Sharon Keller's expert blasts wasted time on execution day

An appellate attorney with 39 years of experience in death penalty cases today criticized Texas Defender Service attorneys for lack of time management on Sept. 25, 2007, the day the state executed their client, Michael Richard. Austin solo Roy Greenwood, an expert witness for CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, took the stand on the fourth day of Keller’s hearing on ethics charges stemming from her actions the day Richard died. Greenwood testified that his review of the evidence in Keller’s case indicates the TDS lawyers who were working on Richard’s case wasted a lot of time after learning that the U.S. Supreme Court had granted a petition for writ of certiorari on the lethal injection issues in a Kentucky case on the same day Richard’s execution was scheduled. Greenwood says the evidence shows that University of Houston Law Center professor David Dow, the litigation director, learned of the Supreme Court’s action about 10 a.m., discussed that action in a conference call with other TDS employees about 11:30 a.m., and then assigned Alma LaGarda, a TDS staff attorney who had only a year’s experience at that time, to draft Richard’s pleadings. Dow did not look at LaGarda’s work until after 3:30 p.m., Greenwood testified, based on his review of the evidence. “This whole thing could have been done in an hour, I think,” Greenwood testified. The court is scheduled to hear videotaped testimony of Greg Wiercioch in this afternoon’s proceedings. Final arguments are scheduled after the videotaped testimony.
-- Mary Alice Robbins