ustxtxb_obs_2009_03_06_50_00005-00000_000.pdf

HOLD Ili WE ARE PHILOSOPHICALLY OPPOSED, NOT FINANCIALLY OPPOSED… YEAH… WE’RE CRAZY… NOT STUPID… c.,. -111″6.16.1-2PLiete..C, www.p1anetictexas.com GROWNUP GIFTS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES NEW STORE RIPIRTI! SOUTH RESEARCH E. RIVERSIDE STASSNEY 443-2292 502-9323 441-5555 707-9069 NEW STORE!! SAN MARCOS 5112 392-4596 SAN ANTONIO NEW STORE EAST CENTRAL EVERS MILITARY WEST AVE 654-8536 822-7767 521-5213 333-3043 525-0708 011SUIT OF HAPPINESS olI kE. 832-8544 NEW STORE! IN AUSTIN CESAR CHAVEZ 3111 1 CESAR CHAVEZ \(fast of Pleosoof VoJley 247-2222 SO, SINCE YOU’RE PHILOSOPHICALLY OPPOSED TO THE STIMULUS, I ASSUME YOU WON’T BE. TAKING THE MONEY… executions would be halted for eight months. As Richard’s attorneys rushed to file a last-minute brief that would have saved his life, at least for a little while, computer problems caused a delay. They notified the clerk’s office that the brief would arrive a few minutes past 5 p.m. Keller responded, as reported at the time by the Austin American-Statesman, “We close at 5.” Richard was executed a short time later. Before an execution, judges are usually available after business hours for last-minute appeals, sometimes late into the night. Keller’s devotion to punctuality in a life-and-death situation was apparently too much for most of the Texas legal establishment. Her actions drew protests from advocacy groups, dozens of lawyers, and even fellow conservative judges. Several lawmakers and newspapers have called for her impeachment. But however cold-hearted her actions in the Richard case, she has done worse in the past. Keller once joined a majority on the court to allow an execution to go forward even though the defendant’s trial lawyer had suffered from severe mental illness and had his license suspended three times. She determined the defendant had received adequate representation. In 1996, Keller ruled that death row inmate Cesar Fierro’s forced confession was valid, even though it was obtained after police threatened to allow Mexican authorities to torture his family. But her most stunning performance came in the case of Roy Criner. Keller refused to grant Criner a new trial even after DNA tests showed the semen found on the woman he supposedly raped didn’t match Criner’s. In a cringe-worthy interview with the PBS show Frontline, Keller argued that just because the DNA evidence excluded Criner didn’t mean he hadn’t committed the rape; perhaps he had worn a condom or not ejaculated, she said. Further DNA evidence would implicate the actual rapist. Criner received a pardon in 2000, but not before he spent an additional two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commitsolely because of Keller. The process for removing Keller from office is a lengthy one. She has 15 days to respond to the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s report. The commission will then appoint a special master to oversee a public hearing and make a recommendation MARCH 6, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5