Hampton Runs for Republican-Dominated Court

Entering the political fray for the first time as a candidate, Austin criminal defense attorney Keith Hampton on Nov. 4 filed paperwork to run as a Democrat for the Court of Criminal Appeals seat currently held by Judge Michael Keasler.

Hampton (www.hamptonforjudge.com) is well-known in the Travis County courthouse and also in the Texas Capitol, where he has worked as legislative director for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He's handled many notable cases in Austin (including the successful appeal of Lacresha Murray, who was convicted of killing a toddler when she was just 11, based largely on a confession obtained illegally by police). Hampton notes that if elected, he would be the only judge on the court to have handled death penalty cases during every stage of litigation – not an insignificant issue, since the CCA is the highest criminal court in Texas and the only appellate court that considers capital punishment appeals.

The CCA has been an all-Republican court since 1998 (when Keasler was first elected, replacing the court's last Democrat, now Travis County Judge Charlie Baird). The court has been under increasing scrutiny for controversial decisions, including the 2007 decision made by Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, which effectively prevented condemned inmate Michael Rich­ard from filing a last-minute appeal by announcing that the clerk's office closed at 5pm.