Can it get any worse?
Yesterday the Court of Criminal Appeals denied the writ of habeas for Michael Hood; he sought relief after he discovered the prosecutor and the judge had an ongoing affair, which included the time of trial. Hood obtained a recommendation from the current state trial judge that relief be granted. That is extremely difficult to obtain in any case, and most times is enough. The trial judge made several findings, including and finding that Hood's lawyer's exercised reasonable dilligence in bringing the claim. Not suprisingly, the judge and prosecutor hid the affair, and Hood's lawyer's did not find out until well after the trial; after his appeals had already been denied.
I didn’t have a lot of hope for Hood’s claims. The Texas court of criminal appeals does not exactly bend over backwards to help capital defendants; one might conclude they go out of their way to affirm the convictions. However, I would have never guessed the reason for denying the claim. I thought they would hold that Hood could not prove the affair affected his case in any way. The court did not address that issue, instead holding he had waited too long to bring the claim. The surprising thing about that finding is that the trial judge specifically found that his lawyers exercised reasonable diligence. After all, the judge and prosecutor were doing everything they could to keep anyone from finding out.
The Court of Criminal Appeals has been in the middle of the news for at least the last year. Almost everyone knows about the hearings to reprimand the presiding judge based on the closure of the clerk’s office, which prevented Michael Richards from obtaining a stay of execution. Their response was to blame the lawyers. No matter what the reason, it appears there is no doubt that Richards would have received a stay, and was prevented from doing so because the presiding judge ordered the clerk’s office to close at five o’clock. More recently, the court is in the middle of the controversy over the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
Scott Benson - i.e. Grits for Breakfast is not one to mince words. He recently wrote that the court has become an international disgrace. I’m certainly no expert on world opinion, and I will leave that to others. However, there is no doubt that the court seems oblivious to public opinion. I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing, because courts should not be influenced by such things. However given the almost universal condemnation you have to wonder why they don’t at least consider that; they have to know this is another opportunity for the media to come down on them.
The answer to my question in the title of this post is probably yes. I’m sure there will be other decisions that will be equally as bad in the eyes of the public. The question will be whether that translates into a change come election time. I tend to doubt it, because most people do not have a clue as to who the judges on the court are, and what they do. I have been practicing law for over 25 years, and I couldn’t tell you the names of more than a couple of judges on the Supreme Court of Texas. I simply do not practice there, and do not keep up with civil law. If a lawyer doesn’t know who the judges are, how can the general public..
Maybe this is what we need to to reform the judicial system. While appointing judges has its problems, you generally cannot argue with the fact that most judges who are appointed are qualified. You may not agree with their decisions or their philosophy, but generally you cannot disagree with their qualifications. The same cannot be said for elected judges. History has shown that sometimes all you need is a popular name to win an election. If you call most lawyers, probably most of the judges elected to statewide offices are not the most qualified candidates in the field. The time has come to change that, and maybe this is the chance we need.
