Chuck Lindell writes, "Morton judge steps aside; replacement named," for the Austin American-Statesman.
District Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield informed the Texas Supreme Court by faxed letter Tuesday afternoon — hours after Morton's lawyers filed a motion alleging official misconduct in the case — that he had recused himself from all Morton proceedings.
Stubblefield cited no reasons for the move but asked that a new judge to be appointed quickly "due to the urgency of a motion filed this afternoon and the exigent circumstances of the case."
The motion from Morton's lawyers with the Innocence Project of New York alleged that prosecutors or investigators in 1987 failed to produce information that would have bolstered Morton's claims that he did not kill his wife in 1986.
The case was prosecuted by Ken Anderson, now a state district judge in Williamson County, and Mike Davis, now a private lawyer in Round Rock. Neither can comment on the allegations because of a gag order in the case.
On Wednesday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson assigned the Morton case to District Judge Sid Harle of San Antonio.
Earlier coverage of Michael Morton's case begins at the link.
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