Closing of court despites inmate's appeal bid angers state judge

[McCamy Taylor]

Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram

One of the judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says she was angry when she learned from a newspaper report that a colleague had closed the doors of the court at 5 p.m. Sept. 25 even though attorneys for a Death Row inmate were rushing to file an appeal.

Judge Cheryl Johnson said she was dismayed that Presiding Judge Sharon Keller closed the offices at the regular time, preventing attorneys for inmate Michael Richard from filing an appeal seeking to halt Richard's execution. It was only hours after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would consider a Kentucky case questioning the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Richard was executed that night after the Supreme Court declined to grant him a reprieve.

The Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday that Keller closed the Texas court without consulting any of the eight other judges or later informing them about the decision -- including Johnson, who was assigned to handle motions in Richard's case.



Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/256501.html

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Texas gets one last execution in under the wire. Now that the Supreme Court is debating the issue of whether or not lethal injection as currently administered is cruel and inhumane, the state that loves to kill killers is in for a long, dry spell.

[DU9598]

1. Huh?

This sounds like premeditated murder to me, if the US Supreme Court overturns lethal injection.