The next time you travel to downtown Houston to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, you should walk a few blocks to Houston's Old Hanging Tree at the corner of Capital and Bagby streets. That huge 200-year-old oak tree is the location where many "Negroes" were illegally lynched many years ago. Almost 150 years after the Civil War ended, Texas remains haunted by its long history of slavery, and even today the state still practices lynching. But today it is done by the state, rather than a group of white-hooded men. It is called execution by lethal injection.
Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed open late accepting letters from the public urging Judge Sharon Keller to resign. On Sept 25, Keller closed the court sharply at 5, saying "We close at five", but today the court stayed open for business past 5 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 past 5 for a few minutes today 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. The protest was covered by Fox 7 and KeyeTV. Fort Worth Star-Telegram also has an article.
"Justice does not close at 5 p.m.," said Laura Brady, a protester from Austin. "Judge Keller has got to understand that."
Keller, who has served on the appeals court since 1995 and has been the presiding judge since 2001, has not responded to calls that she be sanctioned by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. But last week she implemented a policy of allowing after-hours emergency appeals to be filed electronically.
That action came too late to satisfy Scott Cobb, the organizer of the protest that began outside the Texas Supreme Court building.
"We think she abdicated her responsibility as a judge," Cobb said. "She ought to remove herself from office, or the Commission on Judicial Conduct should remove her.
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.
If you are as shocked as we were by the refusal of Judge Sharon Keller to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5 PM by lawyers representing a man about to be executed, then sign on to this complaint. We will submit this complaint to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on October 30, 2007. In order for your name to count on the complaint for the submission, you must provide all the requested contact information, including your phone number and occupation.
We must also have your signature, so download the signature form PDF version , MS Word version and fax it to +15124028428 or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, click here
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or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, 
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