The StandDown Texas Project

Todd Willingham Exoneration Order Drafted, But Unissued

"Cameron Todd Willingham Exoneration Was Written But Never Filed By Texas Judge," is Michael McLaughlin's Huffington Post report.

A Texas judge who reviewed the controversial 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham planned to posthumously exonerate the father who was put to death for killing his three daughters in a house fire.

Scientific experts who debunked the arson evidence used against Willingham at his 1992 trial and a jailhouse witness who recanted his shaky testimony convinced District Court Judge Charlie Baird in 2010 that "Texas wrongfully convicted" him. But Baird's order clearing Willingham's name never became official, because a higher court halted the posthumous inquiry while it considered whether the judge had authority to examine the capital case.

While waiting for permission to finish the case from the Third Court of Appeals, Baird put together the document that "orders the exoneration of Cameron Todd Willingham for murdering his three daughters," because of "overwhelming, credible and reliable evidence" presented during a one-day hearing in Austin in October 2010.

"You can't do anything for Willingham except clear his name," Baird told The Huffington Post. "When they tried Willingham, I'm convinced that everyone worked in good faith. The problem is that up until the execution, everything had changed so dramatically that you realized the science relied upon at trial was not reliable enough to take a man's life."

Baird's intended order never came to light because the court of appeals criticized his handling of the case and prevented him from resuming work on it before he left the bench at the end of 2010 after choosing not to seek re-election. No one asked him for it after the court of appeals blocked him, he said.

Baird, now an attorney in private practice, said he was moved to share the document with HuffPost after reading about Carlos DeLuna, a Texan who a Columbia University team said this week may have been wrongly executed in 1989.

The 18-page unissued order closely examined the arson evidence presented during the trial, including claims that investigators found patterns on the floor where an accelerant was poured and traces of it on the porch. But Baird said he was persuaded by other experts that the initial investigative techniques were out of date. The judge faulted Gov. Rick Perry and the state Court of Criminal Appeals, because they "ignored" exonerating evidence in 2004.

Earlier coverage of the Willingham Court of Inquiry begins at the link.  All coverage is in the Todd Willingham category index.

Michael Morton's Conversation With Chuck Lindell

Austin American-Statesman journalist Chuck Lindell broke the story of new developments in Michael Morton's case that led to his exoneration.  He's still covering the story, and the Statesman has published a two-day series, "Free to Speak;" a wide-ranging conversation between Morton and Lindell.  There is video at the links below.  It's a must-read.

"Morton can look back on pain and prison, but lives in peace," is the first part of the interview

Morton's arrival in prison immediately drove home the seriousness of his new situation.

Standing in a line of inmates wearing only prison-issued boxer shorts, Morton said he counted 13 stab wounds on the back of the man in front of him. Suddenly, the advice imparted from a longtime inmate at the county jail made perfect sense: "Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open."

Morton had to learn to stand up for himself. There were confrontations, but nothing worth discussing today, he said.

"It had its rougher moments. But most of prison is boring and monotonous and stupid and disrespectful," he said. "That's not me being some kind of elitist. Everyone inside complains about it."

Knowing he was innocent added "a little bit of emotional baggage," Morton said. "But I was no different than a guy who was completely guilty, because prison is prison. ... You go through the same stuff, deal with the same people.

"I'm not saying I didn't feel crushed. In the early days when I was new, I admit there were some nights," he said, his voice trailing off. "I heard some guys weeping, almost howling like dogs. I never had that. I wasn't that uncontrollably devastated. But there were nights when I silently wept.

"When everything has been taken away, or what you think is everything at that point, it can feel awfully brutal."

"Morton describes painful fight for freedom, how he started anew," is the conclusion.

Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, at the time convinced of Morton's guilt, opposed his bid for DNA tests on evidence that had been preserved, including a bloody bandanna discovered behind the Mortons' house.

It would take an appeals court order in 2010 to move the testing forward.

And:

Morton became eligible for parole in 2007, 20 years after entering prison, and again in 2010. Both times Bradley opposed his release, and both times Morton was denied.

In prison, Morton said, everybody knows that the key to parole is to admit your guilt and show remorse.

A 2009 letter from Bradley to the Parole Board drove the point home. "Ask Michael Morton if he has accepted responsibility for the murder of his wife by mercilessly beating her to death. If he tells you that he now acknowledges he committed that crime, please notify me and I will reconsider my opposition to his parole," Bradley wrote.

But Morton said making up a confession was never an option. Almost everything of value had been taken away from him. All that remained, he said, was his innocence.

"I was not going to lie to get out," he said.

Earlier coverage of Michael Morton's exoneration and what has followed begins with this post.

Michael Morton Talks to Brandi Grissom

"Michael Morton Talks About Ordeal, Hopes for Future," is the title of Brandi Grissom's post at the Texas Tribune.

In the months since he has been out of prison, Morton said, he has been inundated with kindness and gifts, hugs from strangers who wish him well and pleas for forgiveness from some who believed in his guilt. For him, those expressions, after decades of being treated like a villain, have been the most welcome surprise.

“Everybody, no matter what the setting, they want love and affirmation,” he said. “It’s one thing to want it, it’s another to get it.”

He has also restarted a relationship with Eric, who is married and has a daughter named Christine Marie, after his mother. The reunification has been a slow process for Eric, now 28. But Morton said he understands and respects his son’s concern for his adoptive family, who must also now learn to deal with the realization that he is innocent.

Morton said he is grateful that his sister-in-law raised Eric to be a loving, responsible and smart father, husband and son. When he met Eric at a recent family gathering, Morton said, during a few moments they had alone, his son asked about his mother. They both cried.

“There was no one I would rather spend my life with than his mother,” he said. “And that kind of got both of us.”

As he rebuilds his relationship with Eric, Morton is also working on another important objective: finding accountability for the men whose actions led to his wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

Morton was profiled on the CBS News program, "60 Minutes," on Sunday.  That's where earlier coverage begins.

60 Minutes Looks at the Michael Morton Exoneration

"Evidence of Innocence: The case of Michael Morton," is the title of CBS News "60 Minutes" examination of Michael Morton's exoneration.  It's reported by Lara Logan; produced by Andy Court and Anya Bourg.  There is video at the link.  Here's the beginning:

It's not every day that a convicted murderer clears his name and then returns to court to argue that his prosecutor should be prosecuted. But that's what happened recently in a high-profile case in Texas that raises broader questions about the power prosecutors have and what happens when they're accused of misusing it. At the center of this story is a man named Michael Morton. He was once an ordinary citizen with a wife, a child, a job, and no criminal record whatsoever. But then he was sent to prison for life.

In 1987 in a very public trial, Michael Morton was convicted of brutally murdering his wife. As he was led away to prison, he insisted he was innocent.

[Michael Morton: I did not do this.

Reporter: I'm sorry what?

Michael Morton: I did not do this.]

Hardly anyone believed him until last year when he was exonerated by DNA testing. By then, he had spent nearly 25 years of his life behind bars.

Lara Logan: What was it like for you to walk from the court a free man?

Michael Morton: It was so alien at first. It wasn't quite real. We stepped out of the courtroom and it was a beautiful sunny day. The sun felt so good on my face, on my skin. I can just feel like I was just drinking in the sunshine.

Brandi Grissom posts, "On '60 Minutes,' Exoneree Seeks Accountability," at the Texas Tribune.

Michael Morton, who spent 25 years in prison wrongfully convicted of his wife's murder, told Lara Logan of CBS's 60 Minutes that it's not revenge he's after — it's accountability.

"I don't want this to happen to anybody else. Revenge isn't the issue here," he said. "Revenge, I know, doesn't work. But accountability works."

Earlier coverage of Michael Morton's exoneration and its aftermath begins at the link.  Related posts are in the prosecutorial misconduct index.

 

Court of Inquiry Prosecutor's Responsibilities Cause Slowdown

Today's Austin American-Statesman reports, "Anderson inquiry in Williamson County slowed until June."  It's by Chuck Lindell.

The court of inquiry examining former Williamson County prosecutor Ken Anderson's role in the Michael Morton case will progress slowly for the next three months, the special prosecutor said Monday.

Rusty Hardin, appointed last week to act as special prosecutor for the court of inquiry, said another commitment will keep him from devoting much time to the Anderson-Morton case until June at the earliest.

Hardin is defending pitching star Roger Clemens against charges that he lied to Congress when he denied using steroids during his Major League Baseball career. That federal court trial begins April 16 in Washington, and prosecutors indicated that they will need six to eight weeks to present their case, Hardin said.

"I think it's safe to say we expect the main efforts to be this summer" in the Anderson inquiry, Hardin said from his office in Houston.

The court of inquiry will examine allegations, leveled by Morton and his lawyers, that Anderson intentionally hid evidence that could have spared Morton from a life sentence for the 1986 murder of his wife, Christine, in their Southwest Williamson County home.

Earlier coverage of the Morton exoneration and Court of Inquiry begins at the link.

Special Prosecutor Named for Morton Case Court of Inquiry

Today's Austin American-Statesman reports, "Well-known criminal lawyer Hardin to assist in Morton inquiry."  It's by Chuck Lindell.

Well-known Houston trial lawyer Rusty Hardin has been named to act as special prosecutor for the court of inquiry that was convened last month in the Michael Morton case.

The court of inquiry will determine whether former Williamson County prosecutor Ken Anderson, now a district judge in Georgetown, violated state law by improperly withholding information that could have spared Morton from being wrongly convicted of his wife's murder in 1987. Anderson has denied hiding evidence from Morton's trial and appellate lawyers.

In selecting Hardin in an order signed Monday, District Judge Louis Sturns of Fort Worth, who will lead the court of inquiry, gets a special prosecutor who is no stranger to high-profile cases and advises other lawyers about how to deal with the media during blockbuster trials.

Hardin represents Roger Clemens, a former major league baseball pitcher and seven-time Cy Young Award winner who is fighting accusations that he lied to Congress about steroid use. He also has represented accounting firm Arthur Andersen in its civil and criminal cases linked to the Enron collapse and the estate of millionaire J. Howard Marshall in the probate fight with his widow, former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith.

Hardin also was chief trial counsel for the Whitewater independent counsel's office for nine months in 1994, working under Kenneth Starr and Bob Fiske in Little Rock, Ark.

Courts of inquiry are a rarely used feature of the Texas criminal code that allows the judiciary to act similar to a grand jury, determining whether state laws have been broken. As special prosecutor — or attorney pro tem, as the criminal code labels the job — Hardin will question witnesses, compile evidence and "render other assistance to the judge as necessary."

"Rusty Hardin special prosecutor in misconduct inquiry," is by Tony Freemantle for the Houston Chronicle.

Veteran Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin has been named special prosecutor for a rare court of inquiry convened to examine if prosecutorial misconduct sent an innocent Williamson County man to prison for nearly 25 years for murdering his wife.

Michael Morton, 57, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the August 1986 beating death of his wife, Christine, but was released last fall after DNA testing on a bandana found near the scene pointed to another man in the murder. Morton was officially exonerated in December.

In addition to the DNA evidence, however, Morton's attorneys contend that prosecutor Ken Anderson, who is now a Williamson County state district judge, deliberately withheld evidence during the trial that could have acquitted Morton and spared him nearly a quarter-century behind bars.

And:

He served for 15 years as an assistant district attorney in Harris County and tried 14 death penalty cases.

He entered private practice in 1991 and has represented, among others, pitcher Roger Clemens, the accounting firm Arthur Anderson in litigation linked to the collapse of Enron, and the estate of J. Howard Marshall against claims by his widow, the late Anna Nicole Smith.

"Rusty Hardin Picked for Prosecutor in Morton Case," by Morgan Smith at the Texas Tribune.

Tarrant County state district Judge Louis Sturns will lead a court of inquiry to investigate allegations of criminal prosecutorial misconduct against former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, who saw to the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton. Anderson, who is now a state district judge, has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in his court filings, and has expressed regret over the 25 years that Morton was imprisoned before he was exonerated in December.

And:

Morton argues through his lawyers that there is probable cause to believe that Anderson should be charged with contempt of court and tampering with official documents. Morton's lawyers allege that Anderson concealed police reports that included a transcript of a telephone conversation between a sheriff’s deputy and Morton’s mother-in-law in which she reported that her 3-year-old grandson had seen a “monster” — who was not his father — attack and kill his mother.

Anderson's lawyers said that the judge in the case only requested a small portion of the police reports be turned over and called the complete report "nothing more than an artifice, a construct to support a requested result."

John Raley, the Houston lawyer who has worked for eight years on Michael Morton's case, said, "I am confident Mr. Hardin will handle this matter with integrity, seriousness of purpose and determination."

Earlier coverage of the Michael Morton exoneration and its aftermath begins at the link.

Bob Ray Sanders on the Morton Court of Inquiry

"Important move forward on holding both sides of court accountable," is the title of Bob Ray Sanders' column in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Here's the beginning:

What happened to Michael Morton should never happen to any human being anywhere, especially in a country where the word justice is righteously regarded as a major pillar of our democratic republic.

He should never have been charged with a crime, much less indicted, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Thanks be to God and an organization called the Innocence Project, Morton was officially exonerated in December on charges of killing his wife in 1986, but not before he had spent 25 years in the Texas prison system.

In a statement to the court after charges were formally dismissed, Morton said, "Thank God this wasn't a capital case."

Indeed, otherwise he would likely have been executed before we learned of his innocence.

But Morton's case, one of 289 DNA-related exonerations in the country and more than 40 in Texas in the last 10 years, shines a glaring light on a more chilling and sinister issue involving criminal prosecutions, particularly in the Lone Star State.

His lawyers contend that Morton wasn't just a victim of mistaken identity, but a casualty of prosecutorial misconduct. Specifically they allege that the prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, who was then the Williamson County district attorney, deliberately withheld evidence that pointed to Morton's innocence.

Earlier coverage of the court of inquiry ordered in the Morton exoneration begins at the link.