Who's the Killer?

Michael Richard, a man who was convicted of capital murder by our own court system, twice, and who spent 20 years of our tax dollars sitting in our prisons, has only recently received the due penalty for his crimes. Furthermore, the honorable judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is being called a "killer" because she finally threw the book at Richard, refusing to succumb to one more senseless scandal by the money-hungry defense.

Shaken, as most would be, by the thought of his life coming to an end, Richard told his prosecutor, Lee Coffee, that death by the highly-debated lethal injection "would be his last ultimate high". In Coffee's words, Richard "coldly" refused a plea bargain offered by the victim's family that would have granted him life in prison. My interpretation of Richard's thought process: Another government handout would be nice...especially if it involves controlled substances...on the other hand, the death side-effect is kind of a downer...but I'll take it anyway...better than spending life in prison.

Defense attorneys unabashedly grabbed at all the candy they could hold by dragging this case out for more than two decades. If I didn't know better, I might think I was watching little kids at a pinata party. Richard's defense attorneys were given more than ample time to appeal his case in the 20 years between the murder of Ms. Dixon and Richard's execution. The one seemingly legitimate appeal they made was ludicrous. Defense attempts to prove that Richard was mentally retarded were shot down by the fact that he was writing letters from prison and could play chess. I would also like to point out the cunning craftiness with which he planned Ms. Dixon's demise. Not too long after Richard was released from prison for a former burglary charge, he got right back to work. Having the sense to figure out when Ms. Dixon would be alone in the house, he broke in, turned out the lights, raped her, shot her with a 0.25 caliber pistol, hot-wired the Dixon family van, pawned the two items he stole and ditched the get-away van at a friend's house. I think that kind of planning takes an IQ of at least 75.

The most outrageous thing about this case is that judge Sharon Keller is being accused of murdering Richard and skewing justice by not allowing defense attorneys to file one more last-minute appeal. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that lethal injection was unconstitutional found the defense scrambling for one last excuse to delay Richard's execution. When denied the opportunity to get their last bit of candy, the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers turned around and slapped Judge Keller in the face by having her reviewed by Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct and filing a motion to have her impeached.

My guess is that Judge Keller has too much common sense to waste her time filing litigation against Representative Lon Burman for slander or against the New York Times or the Austin American Statesman for libel. Perhaps she has more important things to do...like keeping real killers off the streets so people don't have to go home only to find their mother's blood spattered all over the bedroom floor.