Judge: Closing Court Before Appeal Wasn't a Ruling

Judge Sharon Keller waits for her trial to begin at the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio,...

Judge Sharon Keller waits for her trial to begin at the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, faces judicial misconduct charges after she refused to keep her court open late to accept a condemned man's last-minute appeal. Keller faces five charges of judicial misconduct. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

(AP)

A Texas judge on trial for closing her court despite knowing that a death-row inmate's final appeal was running late testified Tuesday that denying a request to stay open was no judicial ruling on her part.

"I did not believe I was making a decision," said Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Speaking publicly about the case for the first time since Michael Wayne Richard was executed in 2007, Keller said she was told the last-minute filing to the appeals court wasn't ready, but didn't get a reason why.

Keller said she didn't think the request for more time was a substantive question relating to the merits of an appeal. Under the court's execution-day rules, any communication about the execution is supposed to be referred to the assigned judge on duty.

"I think it's a close call," Keller said. "I think it was not a substantive matter but I can understand why people say it was."

Keller got a phone call about 4:45 p.m. from a court staffer asking if the court would stay open past its normal closing time of 5 p.m. Twice in the conversation she said no.

Keller, wearing a bright orange jacket and skirt, testified for more than hour before court adjourned. Her testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday.

The presiding judge of the state's highest criminal appeals court, Keller is accused of denying Richard access to the court to file an appeal with his execution imminent. She is facing five charges of judicial misconduct that could lead to her removal from the bench.

Keller is the highest-ranking judge in Texas to be put on trial by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. The courtroom had far fewer observers Tuesday than on the first day of her trial, when protesters and death penalty opponents greeted her at the courthouse.

Keller has been mocked by critics as "Sharon Killer" for her tough-on-crime reputation cultivated from the bench.