Sharon Keller’s Response
Here’s Sharon Keller’s sworn answer (h/t The Houston Chronicle, without which we would be a news-free town) to the Texas Commission for Judicial Conduct’s Notice of Formal Proceedings against her. She spends several paragraphs reiterating the facts of Michael Richard’s case (the “he had it coming” defense), explains that Richard was not seeking not to be executed, but rather not to be executed using the current protocol (the “only hastening the inevitable” defense) and points the finger at Court of Criminal Appeals counsel Edward Marty and Richard’s lawyers (the “some other dude did it” defense).
My second favorite part of the answer is where Judge Keller claims that “If applied to these charges [Article 5] Section I-a(6)A [of the Texas Constitution] is unconstitutional under the United States and Texas Constitutions.” So part of the Texas Constitution is itself unconstitutional under the Texas Constitution.
My favorite part of the answer, though, is this:
The charges are unconstitutional because Respondent has been denied the right to counsel guaranteed by the Texas and United States Constitutions, Texas statutes and the Commission’s own rules. In this regard Respondent has requested that the Commission appoint the undersigned law firm as her counsel and pay its reasonable and customary fees for services rendered in responding to these charges. When that request was denied respondent asked the Texas Ethics Commission (“TEC”) whether the undersigned firm could defend her on a pro bono basis (as the undersigned has agreed to do if permitted) and if not, on a reduced fee basis and if not, on an alternate billing arrangement such as a fixed fee. The TEC, citing its own rules, refused to answer Respondent’s questions despite the fact that the CJC is pursuing these charges through a reputable law firm and skilled counsel who are only charging $1 for their services. See Exhibits “L” and “M.” The net effect is that these two arms of Texas government are forcing Respondent to an election; either defend herself pro se or risk a financially ruinous legal bill to defend against these charges which are without merit.
Excellent. Keller is whining about having to pay the counsel of her choice. The government (here, the Commission for Judicial Conduct) has effectively pro bono outside special counsel, and Judge Keller — because she’s a judge — may be ethically barred from accepting the gift of free or cut-rate counsel from the estimable Charles “Chip” Babcock of Jackson Walker. (Mary Alice Robbins discussed the problem at Tex Parte Blog; I understand why a judge might be barred from accepting free or reduced-rate services, but I don’t see the problem with Babcock representing her for a reasonable flat, rather than hourly, rate.)
Among other things, Judge Keller asked that the CJC appoint Jackson Walker to represent her, and pay their reasonable and customary fees. If there is a constitutional right to counsel in this (non-criminal) case, it certainly doesn’t provide for a judge who isn’t indigent to get counsel at the taxpayers’ expense. And Judge Keller, whose salary is at least $150,000 a year and who, by her own admission, “own[s] a considerable amount of property” — including (in 1999) a $1.3 million piece of land in Dallas, landlord to a topless bar –is certainly not indigent.
Even if Judge Keller were entitled to appointed counsel, she would not be entitled to reasonable counsel of her choice. The State is not required to ‘purchase for an indigent defendant all the assistance that his wealthier counterparts might buy.’” Keller knows this, of course, because she joined in the opinion (Griffith v. State — WPD).
Judge Keller says she’s being forced to choose either to “defend herself pro se or risk a financially ruinous legal bill to defend against these charges which are without merit.” Why Babcock’s bill for defending meritless charges should be ruinous to the millionaire scion of a wealthy Dallas family is a mystery, but if this is a legitimate concern (and it must be, since the Honorable Sharon Keller herself swore to its truth) then Judge Keller might do what the working poor often have to do in criminal cases, and hire the lawyer she can afford rather than the lawyer she wants. The right to effective counsel is not the right to the best possible counsel.
If that idea is too unpalatable to her — if the Greenhill School girl can’t conceive of having anything but the absolute best — she can always fall back on daddy’s money. And if she finds herself too proud to ask daddy Jack for help, there’s one other option. There would be no ethical issue with Chip Babcock helping her for free, if only she were no longer a judge .…
About The Author
Beat me to it, you dog. But then, this one was yours from the start.
Since Paragraph U of Judge Killer’s response puts her ability to think logically in question, and in light of her conclusion that the absence of Roy Criner’s DNA in a rape/murder victim did not cast doubt on his conviction but merely suggests he wore a condom, I wonder how she can establish that her opinions as to logic are valid.
Oh my. It’s funny. It’s ironic. It’s sad.
The saddest part is that I highly doubt Keller sees the irony.
Declaring that were we a newspaper free town we would be a news free town exposes the kind of limp thinking that went into this and every article located here.
You must be the only person other than me who has read every article here. Thank you for reading, even though you are a cretin.
It would be fitting if she were appointed one of the lawyers who slept while their clients were convicted.
That was one of Rick Casey’s suggestions; see his column that I linked to in one of today’s posts.
[…] the blog “Defending People,” Mark Bennett, a Houston criminal defense lawyer, ridicules the logic of the filing, and […]
Well done.
Do one of you want to explain why:
*TDS had not already briefed the LI issue? One, it was the hot issue at the time. And, two, conference for Baze was set 9/24, therefore, any competent atty knew cert would be granted the following day. And please don’t tell me about computer problems. How many people don’t have 2 or more computers and 2 or more printers?
*TDS didn’t call and ask who was assigned to after hours filing and ask to speak to that judge directly? I mean come on! They have handled capital cases before, haven’t they? That is what you are supposed to do, isn’t it?
It’s ridiculous to point the finger at anyone but TDS. I don’t know why they wanted to go public with this because it is going to come back and bite them in the ass.
I bet this will be its own post here soon enough, but Dallas Morning News reports today (3÷30) that Judge Killer has omitted almost $2 million worth of property from her statutory disclosure of property holdings.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/033009dnprokellerasets.3df3149.html
Maybe Texas Constitutional expert Chip Babcock won’t bring financial ruin upon Killer after all. But does that matter now? I think this article is a fork all by itself.
[…] choice his “customary fees“. This, she girned, meant that she was faced with a “financially ruinous legal bill”1. Nice, some will think, to have a constitution that protects lawyers’ right to charge […]