SPANISH LANGUAGE VERSION

Reelect Judge Michael E. Keasler Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6, in 2004.

Michael E. Keasler, a fifth generation Texan, is a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals---the state’s court of last resort in criminal cases. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. After two years in private practice, he joined the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, where he served for twelve years, tried over four hundred jury trials, and was a senior felony chief prosecutor in the Career Criminal Division. In 1981, Governor Clements appointed him judge of the 292nd District Court in Dallas, a general jurisdiction trial court designated to handle felony criminal cases, where he served for over seventeen years. Judge Keasler has served as Chair of the State Bar Judicial Section, the Texas Center for the Judiciary's Board of Directors, the ABA State Trial Judges' Ethics Committee, the Dallas County Criminal District Judges, the Dallas County Juvenile Board, and the Dallas Bar Association Criminal Law Section. He also served as Presiding Local Administrative Judge and as Dean of the Texas College of Advanced Judicial Studies. Judge Keasler has taught at The National Judicial College since 1992 and was the Robert H. Jackson Lecturer at NJC's April, 2002, General Jurisdiction Course. He is a member of The American Law Institute, the Texas Bar Foundation, the American Judicature Society, and the ABA Appellate Judges Conference. He teaches ethics internationally , and trial management and statutory construction nationally. Judge Keasler has been married to the former Nancy Lawson, a classroom teacher, for thirty-three years. They have one daughter, Christina, who is a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and is a financial analyst for Carlson Restaurants Worldwide in Dallas.

NATIONAL LEADER FOR JUSTICE FOR ABUSED CHILDREN AND WOMEN

Because of JUDGE MIKE KEASLER’s efforts on behalf of abused women and children, Texas judges employ techniques designed to reveal truth and achieve justice at trial and on appeal. In 1985, Judge Keasler joined the faculty of the Texas Regional Judicial Conference because of his interest in making Texas courtrooms more hospitable to children. He also lectured Texas judges on "The Child-Victim as a Witness" in the 1989 regional conferences. After becoming Dean of the regional conferences in 1990 and of the College of Advanced Judicial Studies in 1993, he consistently included courses on family violence and sexual assault in judicial education curricula, using the best faculty and materials available nationally. He often served on the faculty himself and instituted a pilot program on "The Judicial Response to Stranger and Non-stranger Rape."

STARTED RACE, GENDER, AND CULTURAL SENSITIVITY FOR JUDGES