Speaking of the death penalty, did you hear about...
Speaking of the death penalty, did you hear about the judge in Texas who disallowed a death penalty appeal because it came in 20 minutes late? This happened on September 25th, the day the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take the lethal injection case, and death row inmate Michael Richard’s lawyers informed the court that they were throwing an appeal together. But a crashed computer prevented them from getting it in on time. Several judges were willing to stay late and receive the appeal, but Chief Justice Sharon Keller decided to keep strict 9-5 hours and disregarded the appeal. Richards was executed that night, and now newspapers in Texas are calling for Keller’s removal from the court.
Comments (14)
Just out of curiosity, is there a reason that it seems as though every death sentence appeal or motion ends up being filed within minutes of the person's execution? This may be a matter of perception, but it seems to happen an awful lot.
Is this a function of the lawyers simply scrapping the bottom of the law barrel when they're down to the wire and always feel the need to throw out one last hail mary? It seems as though (outside of the above unusual situation) if they had a good argument, they would have made it long before the last minute appeal.
they executed michael richards?!?!!
i know he was a racist and all, but was that totally necessary?!
This is the same judge who would not allow a case to be reopened against a man convicted of rape and murder and serving 99 years in jail. DNA evidence proved that it was not his blood and semen, but still she held firm.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/case/interviews/keller.htm...
This lady is, in a word, sucky.
It could be that the press prefers to report the stories with the most inherent drama.
But I too wondered why these attorneys were working so close to deadline. As a nonlawyer, I truly don't know how much work a death penalty case takes or what a work schedule for anti-death-penalty advocates is like. Although I'm sure flea could tell us a lot about the pay-to-effort ratio at a nonprofit legal services org.
To reiterate: the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take the lethal injection case *that morning*. So they only had that day to put together the appeal.
The Nevada case was different, and I think the delay in filing the writ of prohibition had to do with the state capriciously changing the lethal injection dosage amounts just days before the execution, plus the many parties trying to figure out the best way to go forward since Castillo himself chose not to appeal.
also, last minute appeals are often brought via archaic legal writs (as in my case) that go directly to a high court (which usually only hears appeals) - on the argument that there is no other 'adequate legal remedy'. otherwise, if you have a month, they'll tell you to go screw and bring it in district court....which isn't as newsworthy, genrally.
CM, did you do something to your comments feed? I haven't been getting it properly for the last two days.
I am plain and simple sickened by this judge.
Can you really blame her? Texas has to do everything it can to catch up to China.
And this page goes nowhere:
http://crazymonk.org/crss
Fixed.
Interestingly, in the case referred to by Anthony, the convicted man was eventually pardoned by the Board of Pardons and Paroles and set free in August, 2000. Governor George W. Bush concurred in the decision.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/case/cases/
So when you wonder who's worse than Bush, the answer is Sharon Keller is.
on that frontline page, the guy next to Washington is another wrongfully-convicted guy who served 18 years for a rape he didn't commit....his brother did. and let him rot. wow. i hope he and judge keller have a lot to talk about in the 8th circle of hell.
alas, as it turns out, keller would be in the 8th (fraudulent counselors); while bro would make it all the way to the 9th (traitors of kin).