Special counsel focuses on Keller's characterization of her actions in ethics hearing vs. in suit

The third day of Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller’s hearing on ethics charges got off to a slow start. Lawyers for the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and for Keller (pictured) spent about 80 minutes behind closed doors meeting with 37th District Judge David Berchelmann Jr., special master for In Re: Honorable Sharon Keller. Chip Babcock, Keller’s lead attorney and a partner in Jackson Walker in Dallas, says the meeting was confidential but did not have anything to do with the hearing. When the hearing resumed, Keller returned to the stand to face tough questioning by Mike McKetta, the commission’s special counsel. McKetta, a shareholder in Austin’s Graves, Daugherty, Hearon & Moody, honed in on Keller’s claim that she performed an administrative function when she decided not to keep the CCA clerk’s office open past 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2007, the day the state executed Michael Richard after his lawyers were unsuccessful in their efforts to file pleadings in the CCA. McKetta noted that in 2008, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas in Austin granted Keller’s motion to dismiss a wrongful death suit for allegedly closing the CCA to Richard a few hours before his execution, Richard v. Keller. Yeakel ruled in Keller’s favor, finding she was immune from damages sought by Richard’s family because she acted in her judicial capacity, McKetta said. In the motion for dismissal, McKetta said, Keller portrayed her conduct on Richard’s execution day as related to granting or denying a stay of execution. Keller said the terms in the federal suit do not necessarily mean the same thing as in the ethics hearing. In an interview, Babcock contends that McKetta is making an “apples and oranges argument.” Keller’s action to enforce the law -- the Texas Government Code sets state offices’ operating hours -- was a judicial act, but it was an administrative act for Keller to say the clerk’s office closes at 5 p.m., Babcock says. McKetta also noted that Keller requested and was granted an 18-day extension to file her answer to the commission’s notice of formal proceedings.  “On Sept. 25, 2007, no grace period whatsoever was given Mr. Richard,” McKetta told Keller. 
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Comments

[Eden]

Gatorgirl, thank you and I’m sorry you feel that way about Rick and CMP. We always hate to lose a fan. I have to say toguhh that I do not understand your feelings toward Rick. Obviously, I do not know all the inner workings and the behind the scenes things that go on at the track, but from an outsider looking in, it appears that Rick is trying to do the best he can with what he has to work with. I like Rick on a personal level and, for the most part, I think he’s doing a good job. Do I agree with everything the he does? No, but we all know no one is going to agree with everything someone else does. In my opinion, he’s doing a hell of a lot better than others have in the past. I hope you and your family reconsider and come back to CMP. I don’t have many fans and if y’all leave, there will only be a couple of folks left cheering for me when I do get lucky and win one. Hey Grand Stand Fan, I’m glad you made it out to the track and decided to stop by here and say hi. I was hoping for more cars too but we did what we could with what we had. Thank you for coming out and supporting the drivers and the track. There are a few drivers that I would trust with my car if they needed to use it and Wesley is one of them. Bucky is not but I would still like for him to come back out and race with us again.