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The Texas Court of Appeals recently created an emergency filing system for e-mails in hopes that they won't have a repeat of the execution process that has raised national concern.
New System Causes Buzz
The new system was put into effect after the criticism Judge Sharon Keller faced for not keeping the court open for an extra half hour to review an emergency death penalty appeal.
“It certainly goes a long way towards solving the problem,” says James C. Harrington, the executive director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
The issue that caused national alarm came from an appeal in the September in the case involving Michael Richard.
Lawyers working for the defense reportedly called the clerk's office before it closed to ask them to remain open so they could hand deliver the appeal, as required, since their computers were down.
The appeal was regarding the lethal injection question that the U.S. Supreme Court had proposed earlier that morning.
Judge Keller allegedly refused to keep the office open late and failed to inform the judge who was assigned to the case about the possible appeal.
Therefore, higher courts refused to hear the appeal since it wasn't first reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals and Richard was executed.
Lawyers Petition
In the weeks following the execution, more than 300 lawyers signed a petition asking for an e-mail filing system to be created for the Court of Criminal Appeals.
The Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association has also requested that Judge Keller be reprimanded for failing in her duties.
The new system can now send emergency pleadings, which will be sent to an “on-call” judge.
(Source: Dallas Morning News)
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