Judge on trial after refusing to accept death row appeal

The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals went on trial Monday, facing misconduct allegations over her refusal to accept a last-minute filing to delay an execution. The State Judicial Commission has charged Judge Sharon Keller with failing to follow the court’s execution-day procedures in the case of death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard, and denying Richard access to open courts and the right to be heard. Asked whether she would allow the court clerk’s office to stay open past 5 p.m., as Richard’s attorneys were having computer problems and might be late filing emergency paperwork, Keller refused to do so, according to the complaint filed against her by the judicial commission.

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