A fatal decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

In this article Chuck Lindell is portraying the fatal mistake of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. It seems he is directing the argument towards the public and for the deceased, Michael Richard. On Tuesday, the execution of Heliberto Chi was put on a temporary “halt” while the Supreme Court takes into account whether the use of lethal injection violates the U.S. Constitution. Yet, on September 25 things managed to take a different turn in Michael Richard’s case, another death row inmate scheduled for execution later that night. There was a request for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to accept a late motion on Richard’s case, but Presiding Judge Sharon Keller made the decision to refuse to stay open past 5pm. This decision was said to be made without the consent of the court’s 8 other judges. The execution was scheduled for 6pm. Due to the refusal Michael Richard was executed. The argument is clearly stated and there is a specific outline on how the events took place from the time the lawyers made an attempt to keep the court open, to the halt on Chi’s execution. There is evidence from both ends supporting a few of the opinions of the other judges and Keller’s defense. Lindell added a statement from Judge Cheryl Johnson, who was assigned to handle late motions from Richard’s case, expressing how the whole situation angered her. He also included Keller’s statement on what the circumstances were the day of the execution. With this, I believe this argument is not bias towards Keller or the court. But it did convince me that there could have been a way around this and it was possible to spare Michael Richard’s life, even if it would've been for a couple more months. When Lindell stated the fact that there were 3 other judges staying late that night, it left me unsure if the courts were reliable in tight circumstances such as Richard’s. Regardless, it doesn’t change my belief that the government, whether local or national, isn’t all it’s made out to be. Mistakes are made, and sometimes they are just plain reckless with their decisions.



http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/10/03/1003court.html