Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in the State of Texas, United States. The Court, which is based in the state capital Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight Judges.

[http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/txconst/articles/cn000500.html Article V of the Texas Constitution] vests the judicial power of the state and describes the Court's jurisdiction and sets rules for judicial eligibility, elections, and vacancies.

Jurisdiction

Only Texas and Oklahoma have two courts of last resort. In Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals has final jurisdiction over all criminal matters, while the Texas Supreme Court is the last word on all non-criminal matters.

The Court of Criminal Appeals exercises discretionary review over criminal cases, which means that it may choose whether or not to review a case. The only cases that the Court must hear are those involving the sentencing of capital punishment or the denial of bail.

Court Composition

The Court is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight Judges (unlike the Texas Supreme Court which is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Justices). Each Judge serves a six-year term, and they are elected in staggered partisan elections. The Presiding Judge position is a separately designated elected seat from the others. In order to be a Judge, a person must be at least 35 years of age, a United States and Texas citizen, licensed to practice law in Texas, and must have practiced law at least 10 years. A person 75 years or older cannot run for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals. [ [http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/80R/billtext/html/HJ00036F.HTM 80(R) HJR 36 - Enrolled version - Bill Text ] ] A person who becomes 75 during their term of office cannot serve more than four years of their term of office. [ [http://austin.about.com/od/politics/i/2007_prop14.htm Proposition 14 - Justice Mandatory Retirement Amendment Pros and Cons Texas Constitutional Amendment on November 2007 Ballot ] ] The Governor of Texas, subject to Senate confirmation, may appoint a Judge to serve out the remainder of any unexpired term until the next general election.

Like the Texas Supreme Court, the Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals are currently all Republican.

The current Judges of the Court are:

* Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge

* Lawrence E. Meyers, Judge

* Tom Price, Judge

* Paul Womack, Judge

* Cheryl Johnson, Judge

* Michael Keasler, Judge

* Barbara Hervey, Judge

* Charles Holcomb, Judge

* Cathy Cochran, Judge

Capital Appeal Controversy

On September 25, 2007, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller refused convicted murderer Michael Richard's plea for a 20-minute extension to submit an appeal beyond the court's 5 p.m. closing time, due to his lawyer's alleged computer breakdown.Cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3724883&page=1|title=Judge: 'We Close at 5'|accessdate=2007-11-10|publisher=American Broadcasting Corporation|year=2007|work=ABC|format=HTML] Following the denial of his stay application by the U.S. Supreme Court, [ [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/07-6705.htm Docket for 07-6705 ] ] Richard was executed later that night. The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier that day accepted for consideration a case known as Baze v. Rees from Kentucky in which two death row inmates were challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution. Richard was the last person executed in the United States after the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the Baze case. Keller, the Presiding Judge, made the decision not to accept the late appeal without consulting the duty judge or any of the other judges on the court. As a result, several judicial complaints were filed against Keller with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently changed its rules to allow for late submissions in death penalty cases and other emergency situations, [ [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/rules/ememail.htm Court of Criminal Appeals | Emergency E-Mail Filing ] ] and recently enabled [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/rules/ememail.htm email] filing in death penalty execution cases and certain other emergency situations.

External links

* [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/ Official Website for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Court of Criminal Appeals — may refer to: Army Court of Criminal Appeals Navy Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Texas Court… …   Wikipedia

  • court of criminal appeals — 1 often cap C&C&A: a court of appeals in some states (as Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas) that hears criminal appeals 2 cap: the intermediate appellate military court made up of military personnel and having the power to review questions… …   Law dictionary

  • Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals — The Court of Criminal Appeals meets in the Oklahoma State Capitol Established 1907 Jurisdiction …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Logo of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Agency overview …   Wikipedia

  • Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals — Oklahoma This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Oklahoma …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Moratorium Network — (TMN) is a grassroots non profit organization with the primary goal of mobilizing statewide support for a moratorium on executions in Texas. It has about 18,000 members, about 85 percent of whom reside in Texas. History Texas Moratorium Network… …   Wikipedia

  • Maryland Court of Special Appeals — The Maryland Court of Special Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the U.S. state of Maryland. The Court of Special Appeals was created in 1966 in response to the rapidly growing caseload in the Maryland Court of Appeals. Like the… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas judicial system — The structure of the Texas judicial system is laid out in Article 5 of the Texas Constitution, and is further defined under the Texas Government Code and, with regards to probate matters, under the Texas Probate Code. The structure is highly… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas Courts of Appeals — The Texas Courts of Appeals are part of the Texas judicial system. In Texas, all cases appealed from the district level, both criminal and civil, may be heard by one of the fourteen Texas Courts of Appeals. The exception is for cases where the… …   Wikipedia

  • Texas v. Johnson — SCOTUSCase Litigants=Texas v. Johnson ArgueDate=March 21 ArgueYear=1989 DecideDate=June 21 DecideYear=1989 FullName=Texas v. Gregory Lee Johnson USVol=491 USPage=397 Citation=109 S. Ct. 2533; 105 L. Ed. 2d 342; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3115; 57 U.S.L.W.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”