The attorney defending Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller against misconduct charges that could result in her removal from office on Friday accused the State Commission on Judicial Conduct of doing a poor job of investigating complaints against Keller in connection with a death-row inmate’s case. “I think the commission has failed in every step of the way in this,” Charles “Chip” Babcock, a partner in Jackson Walker in Dallas and Houston, said during an approximately five-hour hearing before the 13-member commission.
Babcock made his comments as the commission heard objections to the findings of a judge who served as special master in In Re: Sharon Keller. Judge David Berchelmann Jr., of San Antonio’s 37th District Court, who heard testimony in the case during a four-day hearing in August 2009, recommended in findings submitted to the commission in January that Keller not be removed from the bench or reprimanded.
