Sharon Faye Keller (born August 1, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
[1] According to Texas Monthly, when Keller was asked in a preelection interview if she was bound to follow the law, even if it meant an unjust result.
[5][6] A laborer born in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and reared on both sides of the border, Fierro was arrested when Gerardo Olague, a 16-year-old, implicated him five months after Castanon's slaying.
He later alleged that during the questioning local police coerced his confession by threatening to harm his parents, who they said were being held hostage in Mexico by Juárez detectives.
"[7] Although she acknowledged that Fierro's "due process rights were violated", she concluded that "the error was harmless" and denied the motion for a new trial.
[11][12][13][14][15] Earlier that evening, ninth grader Deanna Ogg stopped at a store in New Caney to buy cigarettes and told the cashier that "she was going to a party.
"[16][17] Approximately fifteen minutes before Criner told Pitts tale version of the evening's events, Ogg's body was found near the logging facility; she had been raped, beaten, and stabbed.
[34] On May 16, 1998, the court in a 5–3 decision,[35] overturned the district court's recommendation without written comment "[b]ecause there is overwhelming, direct evidence that establishes that [Criner] sexually assaulted the victim in this case..."[36] After Baird filed a dissent,[11] Keller issued a written opinion on behalf of the majority.
[37][41] Mike McDougal, the district attorney, denies that his office ever "impugned the reputation of Ogg" and claims not to know where Keller got information about the victim's purported promiscuity.
"[17] The court agreed with arguments made by the state during the habeas hearing that the absence of Criner's semen could be explained by use of a condom or coitus interruptus and that the state could "produce evidence that the victim had had sexual relations with men other than the applicant", and concluded that "[t]he DNA evidence shows merely that the victim had sex[ ] with someone other than [Criner] at a time relatively near her death.
"[42] After the case was decided, Keller, Baird, Joel Albrecht, the foreman of the trial jury, were among those interviewed by Frontline.
"[48] Tom Price, who ran for Chief Judge in a primary election, said that Keller's Criner opinion had made the court a "national laughingstock.
[54][55] Richard's lawyers, the Texas Defender Service ("TDS") wanted a stay of execution pending decision of Baze.
Keller maintains that it has long been precedent in Texas for late appeals to be hand-delivered to the court or a judge, and that it was not required for them to be filed with the clerk.
[2] The commission charged Keller with dereliction of duty, denying Richard his right to access to the courts and incompetence in office.
It wrote that Keller's actions constituted "willful or persistent conduct that casts public discredit on the judiciary".
[66] The Commission voted to initiate formal proceedings against Keller that included a public trial starting on August 17, 2009, before a Special Master appointed by the Texas Supreme Court.
[60][61] Johnson testified that she "didn't learn about the request for more time until four days after Richard was executed,"[61] although that claim was disputed during Keller's ethics charge hearing.
"[69] On appeal, the Public Warning and the charges against Judge Keller were dismissed on October 11, 2010, by a special court of review.
[specify] Special Master David Berchelmann of the Texas 37th Judicial District, issued his findings of fact on January 20, 2010.
[72] After its litany of execution day blunders,[73] TDS sought absolution by engaging in a "distorti[ng]" campaign of disinformation to "tr[y] th[e] case in the media,"[74] "causing a public uproar against Judge Keller, much of which was unwarranted.
"[73] The report also acknowledges that there is no evidence in the record supporting the computer problems that allegedly delayed the preparation of TDS' motion.
On February 19, 2009, The New York Times endorsed a legislative inquiry, and opined that "If the facts are as reported, Judge Keller should be removed from the bench.
"[76] In February 2016, Judge Keller and the court majority, 7–2, threw out the last remaining charge against former Governor Rick Perry, ruling that he did not commit a crime when in 2013 he threatened to halt funds to the public integrity unit in Travis County unless the district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat caught for drunk driving, resigned.
Perry's lawyers failed to convince Republican District Judge Bert Richardson, to throw out the indictments.
In the lead 52-page opinion, Keller spoke of "criminal charges of dubious legal validity (and/or politically motivated origins)."
[77] The Dallas Morning News reported on March 30, 2009, that Keller had "failed to abide by legal requirements that she disclose nearly $2 million in real estate holdings.
"[78] Keller sought to have the charges dismissed, saying it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay a private attorney or law firm to fight the allegations.
Keller said that her failure to fully disclose her financial information stemmed from error and not a deliberate attempt to mislead.
She "faces a civil and criminal complaint alleging she violated state ethics laws by failing to fully disclose her financial assets".