On Monday, August 5, 2024, the Houston Chronicle reported that a higher court had admonished a Harris County district judge over her decision in the case of a death row inmate.
Judge Ramona Franklin of the 338th District Court had initially granted a short reprieve from execution to Arthur Lee Burton, who was convicted of raping and murdering a Houston jogger in 1997. Judge Franklin withdrew the execution order due to concerns about clerical errors in versions of the death warrant that were delivered to Burton and his legal team. However, the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Judge Franklin had overstepped her authority in stopping the scheduled execution.
According to court documents, the confusion arose from slight variations in where the Harris County seal was placed on multiple copies of the death warrant. Burton’s attorney was concerned about not knowing which version was the original that was submitted to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. She argued the documents did not comply with state law and called for more care in how execution orders are handled.
Judge Franklin rescinded her earlier order that set the warrants in motion and asked prosecutors to obtain a new execution date with properly filed records. However, the Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed Franklin’s actions at the request of prosecutors and determined she had violated her ministerial duty by withdrawing the warrant. The appellate court ordered Franklin to rescind her ruling just days before Burton’s scheduled August 3 execution.
Prosecutors disagreed with Franklin’s decision and maintained she could only withdraw an execution order if the inmate did not receive the order 48 hours before the execution or if a last-minute legal filing required more review. Burton had been sentenced to death twice for the 1997 capital murder. His attorneys filed a last-minute intellectual disability claim that was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeals and was still pending in federal court, along with a request to appeal the state ruling.
The conflict between Judge Franklin and the appellate court was not unprecedented, as the higher court had previously overturned one of Franklin’s rulings.
Source: Houston Chronicle
