22 July 2010 :

Judge Sharon Keller reprimanded for conduct related to 2007 stay of execution filing. The Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a "public warning" to Judge Sharon Keller today for instructing the court clerk to close his office at 5 p.m. even though attorneys for Michael Richard were rushing to file papers requesting a stay of his execution. Keller, the presiding judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals, has fought allegations that she failed in her duties for almost three years. A special judge that heard her case last year said that she should not be reprimanded. But the Judicial Conduct committee heard an appeal of that decision last month and issued a different decision, saying Keller failed to perform her duties, maintain open access to the courts and that her actions constituted a "willful or persistent conduct that casts public discredit on the judiciary or the administration of justice." The case involves the execution of Michael Richard. On Sept. 25, 2007, his lawyers asked the court to stay open to receive an appeal, Judge Keller reportedly told the clerk, "We close at 5 p.m." Mr. Richard, who had been convicted of rape and murder, was executed that night. Mr. Richard's appeal was based on an action by the United States Supreme Court that effectively suspended executions for several months. Judge Keller’s lawyer, Chip Babcock, argued that the fault lay with the defense lawyers, who did not contact other judges directly. Judge David A. Berchelmann, who presided over a separate ethics hearing in 2009, wrote that Judge Keller's conduct "was not exemplary." But he also recommended that she be exonerated and found fault with the defense lawyers as well. On Friday, Mr. Babcock issued a statement saying that his client was "disappointed and shocked" that the commission disregarded Judge Berchelmann's findings and that she would challenge the decision.