the Texas Death Penalty Innocence Freedom Fund and donated US$1,000 to Willis to help him until he received compensation from the State of Texas, which later compensated Willis a total of US$429,166 for the more than seventeen years he spent on death row for a crime he had not committed. After the September 14, 2005 execution of Frances Newton, the Network conducted a fundraising campaign which raised about US$1,000 to help Newton's family pay the funeral expenses. Newton was the first African-American woman executed in Texas since a slave named Lucy was hanged March 5, 1858 in Galveston County for murder. In 2007, the Network collected signatures from members of the general public on a judicial complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Sharon Keller, presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, after she said "We close at 5" and refused to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5pm from Michael Richard's attorneys on the day of his execution. Members of the Network held a protest on the sidewalk in front of Keller's home and created the website SharonKiller.com. The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier accepted for consideration Baze v. Rees from Kentucky, in which two death row inmates were challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution. On February 19, 2009, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct charged Keller with five counts of misconduct. The commission charged Keller with dereliction of duty, denying Richard his right to access to the courts and incompetence in office. A trial on the charges was held August 17–20, 2009 in a San Antonio courtroom. the Network held a protest outside the courthouse. In 2008, the Network created a political action committee to support candidates who oppose the death penalty or support a moratorium. In 2009, the Network led an advocacy campaign to pass a bill to end the death penalty for people convicted under the law of parties. The bill was approved by the Texas House of Representatives, but did not pass the Senate. The Law of Parties applies when someone takes part in one crime – robbery, for example – and does not kill anyone themselves or intend that anyone be killed but "should have anticipated" a murder by an accomplice. On June 2, 2009, the Network coordinated protests in several Texas cities, Canada and Europe of the 200th execution in Texas since Rick Perry