Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals closed the courts’ office promptly at 5pm, just hours before the September 25th scheduled execution of Michael Richard. Keller knew damn well that the lawyers for Richard would be submitting a stay of execution appeal that all eight judges on the court would have been forced to accept in lieu of the previous day’s Supreme Court decision to review the Kentucky lethal injection case. The lawyers for Richard were late with the appeal because the net was down. All other states employing lethal injection stopped executions earlier that day. But not here in Dumbass, Texas where the joy of execution is only surpassed by playing with guns. Capital Punishment page
Locking justice’s door
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals chief justice’s unethical, outrageous blocking of a death row appeal merits the most severe legal sanctions.
The events of Sept. 25 have put a stain on Texas justice that can only be cleansed by the removal of Chief Justice Sharon Keller from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.On that day, Judge Keller let her personal bias in favor of the death penalty trample the right of now-executed prisoner Michael Richard to access the courts and have due process. In doing so, she abdicated her role as the state’s chief criminal justice to become its chief executioner.
Houston Chronicle Editorial
In Texas, Judges and Prosecutors are elected. Here in Harris County (Houston and surrounding area) about 99% of judges are Republicans. Every election cycle they compete with one another in television ads that hit on only one issue. Who will execute the most people for less reason faster than the next Judge. Of course they stick the words "Family Values", "Republican" and "Conservative" between all their joyful bloodlust.
The Texas execution chamber is in Huntsville (Waller County) which is just a few miles North of Harris county (Houston). 37% of the executions in the United States are committed in Texas, and 25% of those are sentenced to death from Harris County. Its a SHORT MILE.
Thus far the Texas Bar and 130 lawyers (growing everyday) have signed petitions to get our newly Christened Judge Roy Bean off the bench. This is the only option to remove her as the PR she has gained by going so out of her way to execute someone can only get her more votes in Harris County than she got last time.
We have executions here about once a week, and not long ago three in one week, The Houston Chronicle pleases the prevailing Texas killer instinct by doing an article on each. They give the three names of the person executed, the pictures of the victim followed by many paragraphs detailing the horror of the crime and most always a quip from the victim’s Christian family expressing how much they enjoyed watching the man die. But with this editorial attacking Judge Keller, the Chronicle crossed the line. To compensate the paper has been printing many letters to the editor expressing only the profound respect and love Harris Country residents have for Judge Keller. Here is just one of many:
No reason to stop executionsHere is another far-left editorial from the Chronicle about how badly a murderer — Michael Richard — had his rights violated by an evil judge (Sharon Keller), even though Richard was fairly tried, convicted and sentenced to death for this heinous crime (see the Oct. 16 editorial "Locking justice’s door"). He was given appeal after appeal for years.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to look at the lethal drugs used for carrying out the death penalty is no reason to stop the execution of murderers who have caused never-ending pain to the families of those
they have slaughtered.ERIC JOHNSON,
Houston
This is much like the infamous quote from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
"Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.” Antonin “Benito” Scalia expressing the most disgusting thing ever uttered by a Supreme Court Justice