Last Friday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed open late accepting letters from the public urging Judge Sharon Keller to resign. On Sept 25, Keller had closed the court sharply at 5, saying "We close at five" and refusing to accept an appeal from a death row inmate, but last Friday the court stayed open for business until 5:03 accepting letters urging Keller to resign. This shows how arbitrary the decision was on Sept 25 to close exactly at five. The court stayed open an extra three minutes Nov 16 with no problem, they could have easily stayed open an extra 20 minutes on Sept 25 to accept an appeal from a man set for execution at 6 pm that day. Michael Richard was the last person executed in the U.S., but if Keller had not said "We close at 5", he would not have been executed Sept 25.
Click here to watch an excellent video story of Friday's protest from FOX 7 News in Austin.
We lined up at the office of the clerk of the court at about ten minutes before five pm to turn in a copy of the judicial complaint signed by more than 1600 people. We also each brought a personally written letter to Keller telling her to resign. Each person stood in line to personally deliver their letter to the clerk. When the clock reached five pm, there were several people still waiting in line. The clock reached 5:01 and 5:02 and still the clerk kept the office open accepting letters. Finally, after the clock had passed 5:03, the clerks stopped accepting letters, left the area and turned off the lights. We asked them to stay open an extra twenty minutes so that everyone could turn in their letter, but they refused. Yet they had already broken the "Keller Rule" by staying open three minutes beyond 5. People who had not yet had a chance to turn in their letters to the clerks left them lying on the counter.
Michael Richard's sister, Patricia Miller, spoke to the group outside the court after the delivery of the letters and judicial complaint. Watch the video above to hear what she said. Patricia demanded that Keller resign no later than Nov 25.
We shot some of our own video that we will post on SharonKiller.com in the next few days.
Update: Here is the video footage we shot.
Please take a moment to send an email to Sharon Keller telling her to resign. Your email will also be sent to Governor Perry, members of the Texas Legislature and the other judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Click here to send Sharon Keller an email telling her to resign.