The soft-spoken and — until now — media-shy presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals sat down with The Texas Tribune last week to talk about capital punishment in Texas, what she was doing on the afternoon she closed her office at 5 p.m. to a last-minute death row appeal, the flaws in the way the state sanctions judges, what it’s like to be known as Sharon “Killer” Keller and the “ridiculous” idea that she doesn’t care about defendants or indigent defense.
Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Keller Cleared
A specially appointed court of review vacated the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s sanction of Sharon Keller today, saying the state board acted unconstitutionally in reprimanding the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: More Waiting for Willingham
Navarro County prosecutor R. Lowell Thompson’s request that Judge Charlie Baird recuse himself from the Cameron Todd Willingham court of inquiry hearing wasn’t decided today.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Prosecution Objects
Fifteen years ago Judge Charlie Baird was one of the justices on the state’s highest criminal court who reaffirmed Cameron Todd Willingham’s death sentence. On Wednesday, Baird is scheduled to begin a process that could determine whether that conviction and Willingham’s execution were wrong. And the prosecution objects.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Go Directly to Jail
Across Texas, defendants charged with misdemeanor offenses are choosing to spend time in the local lockup rather than endure months on probation. They don’t want to deal with the hassle of probation’s conditions, and they can’t afford the thousands of dollars in fees that it requires. People on both sides of the criminal justice system agree that the trend is troubling: It’s helping to fill local jails beyond capacity, and even worse, it means that people charged with DWI, possession of small amounts of drugs and family violence are not getting the treatment they need.
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Criminal Justice
Justice for Aaron?
He can’t read or write, struggles to speak, and at age 19 has an IQ of 47. Yet a judge in the northeast Texas town of Paris still sentenced Aaron Hart to 100 years in prison for performing sexual acts on a 6-year-old neighbor. An appeals court overturned Aaron’s conviction this spring. Now he sits in jail facing the same charges a second time, and his family is praying for a different outcome.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Supreme Court Says No to Keller
On the same day the Texas Supreme Court denied Judge Sharon Keller’s request for intervention in her sanction from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, she has filed a second request to appeal the commission’s decision.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Keller’s Appeal Invalid, SCJC Says
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is taking on Judge Sharon Keller’s appeal of its sanction.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Keller Appeals
Judge Sharon Keller says that in sanctioning her, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct “acted in a lawless, unconstitutional manner.”
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: A “Public Warning” For Keller [Updated]
Sharon Keller got a “public warning” from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for refusing to keep her office open past 5 pm on the day a Texas death row inmate was scheduled to die.
