AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A Texas judge accused of not keeping her office open late enough to accept a death penalty appeal is attacking the credibility of her accusers, her lawyer says.
Judge Sharon Keller, who is facing a special trial this month that could end her career, will contend allegations lodged against her by lawyers for executed death row inmate Michael Richard were fabricated, Keller attorney Chip Babcock told Sunday's Austin (Texas) American-Statesman.
Richard's attorneys say Keller wouldn't respond to their requests to keep her office open past 5 p.m. on the day Richard was executed to accommodate their computer problems.
"Judge Keller's position will be that there was no computer problem," Babcock told the newspaper. "There will be testimony that (Richard's lawyers) -- maybe -- had e-mail problems for a few minutes in the afternoon."
The American-Statesman said Richard's lawyers, however, have testified under oath that their problems, which they described as a "series of computer crashes," were not fabricated and, indeed, forced delays work on their efforts to keep Richard from the execution chamber.
