Friday, July 03, 2015

The Un-Exonerated

Fran and Dan Keller never molested any children at their Austin day care as part of a satanic cult, as Travis County prosecutors alleged at their trial. But they are unlikely to ever be declared innocent by the courts, reported Craig Malisow at the Houston Press. He encouraged people to read Keith Hampton's 14-page motion for rehearing (pdf) on the Kellers' innocence claim, which was denied. A gubernatorial pardon, presumably, remains their last option.

The San Antonio Four so far find themselves in a similar situation, as does Hannah Overton, Kerry Max Cook and too many others to name: Liberated, but un-exonerated.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Justice may have eluded me for 38 years but I have not given up on it, nor have my lawyers. You will be hearing more about that soon enough.

Anonymous said...

Politicians in robes at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals might think they got away with this but on Certiorari SCOTUS will declare them "actually innocent". It's for the same reason the CCA is dragging its feet on actual innocence based on unconstitutional laws. They are partly to blame because they have known about these invalid criminal statutes for years but stood idly by.

Anonymous said...

Sounds just like the MacMartin Day Care travesty in California a few years back

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 2:19 spot on!! We hear a lot about prosecutorial reform but almost never about judicial reform. I have always maintained that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has basically become an appendage of the Texas Republican Legislature. It is no longer an independent judicial body checking the powers of the executive and the legislature. We really are witnessing a constitutional crisis in Texas--is this a dual or tri-partite system of government? Can these elected political Judges survive a serious absolute immunity challenge? Remember absolute immunity was reserved for pure jurists. An argument can be made that the politicians in robes at the CCA are only quasi-jurists.

Theo1 said...

Who are they accountable to? Certainly not the bar - tightest labor union in the world. It happens when there is immunity. H
ell the CCA passes just cause they dont want to take the time to do justice - "Get this off my desk!"

Anonymous said...

To be fair, criminal defendants in Texas state courts have more protections that those in many other states. The Texas courts are also more fair to defendants than the federal courts. Yes there is more to be done but Texas has address several inequities that other jurisdictions ignore. Our collective insistence on executing killers is actually creating a more fair system as our courts and legislature strive to ensure that death penalty cases survive the federal appeals process.

Unknown said...

That was an incredible travesty. I will never forget THAT case

Thomas R. Griffith said...

Re: The Un-Exoneratables of Texas -

In lieu of an annual Walk to Austin to hand deliver copies of: police incident reports & certified case files related to those of us deemed as "Un-qualified" & subsequently "Denied" any & all forms of post conviction assistance considerations directly due to - *the type of evidence, *the year of being wronged, *being allowed to be advised to trade one plea for another, *being allowed to be advised to stop a jury trial in progress or avoid one entirely due to being on probation at time of arrest on new unrelated charges, *failure to exhaust all direct appeals, etc...

The Un-Exoneratables of Texas will be arriving in style. Depending on the amount of passengers, it'll either be: Limos or RVs. CNN will be invited to ride-along to cover what Texas media is paid to ignore. Remember folks, (when attempting to right wrongs) it's not about me, it's not about you, it's about all of us - The Un-Exoneratables of Texas.

*Special thanks to those that assisted in last year's theme - The Texas TapOut. You put one plea in on the front end & put another plea in on the back end, guilty or, not.

Thanks

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Unknown said...

We have to hold this system accountable, y'all. We have to be the ones to effect the changes. I feel for the guy who said he's been fighting to clear his name for 38 yrs. It's only been 10 for me; and the State destroyed a lot of my exculpatory evidence -- as they do to a lot of battered women (and to everyone). Just got back from visiting the Legislature 7/13 and meeting w/staff of the chairs of House and Senate Criminal Justice Committees. We resist to the Lege; we resist in the Courts; and we resist in the Media. Thanks, Grits!