'We close at five' judge cautioned
A top criminal judge in Texas was spared her job but still punished by a state panel, which reprimanded her after she famously said "we close at five" as lawyers for a convicted killer scrambled to file a last-minute appeal.
Embattled Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, had faced removal from the bench.
But the State Commission on Judicial Conduct instead slapped her with a "public warning", one of the least severe sanctions at its disposal.
The resolution to what became a three-year saga seemed to leave neither side satisfied.
Ms Keller sought nothing short of an exoneration, and her critics grumbled over the panel letting her off with a light rebuke.
Death penalty opponents and observers waited nearly three years to find out whether Ms Keller would lose her job after famously saying "We close at five" while lawyers for a twice-convicted killer worked to file a last-minute appeal.
Recommending Ms Keller's removal would have amounted to a historically extraordinary move by the panel. But the 13-member commission did not find her without fault.
Ms Keller's actions constituted "wilful or persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her duties," the panel wrote in a 19-page ruling.
Ms Keller was also found to have cast "public discredit on the judiciary".
Chip Babcock, Ms Keller's lawyer, said he was "gratified" the panel chose such a mild reprimand but was upset that five charges of judicial misconduct were not outright dismissed.