Attorneys for Michael Morton filed a "Report to Court" with exhibits; both available in Adobe .pdf format. Morton is asking for a court of inquiry to examine possible prosecutorial misconduct in his case. The State Bar of Texas is already looking into the mattter.
"Charges against Morton formally dismissed; inquiry sought on prosecutor's actions," is the title of Chuck Lindell's latest report in today's Austin American-Statesman.
Michael Morton completed one leg of his legal journey Monday when a judge formally dismissed his murder charge, declaring him innocent of the crime that cost him almost 25 years in prison.
But District Judge Sid Harle delayed a decision on Morton's second request: that a special court examine allegations that his prosecutor, Ken Anderson, broke several laws by concealing evidence before, during and after Morton's trial.
Harle said he needed more time to review the request to convene a court of inquiry, an ad hoc, fact-finding process often used when the actions of a public official have been called into question.
A decision is not expected before year's end because Harle also offered Anderson, now a Georgetown district judge who has repeatedly denied allegations of misconduct in Morton's 1987 trial, a chance to file briefs opposing the inquiry.
The state's highest criminal court has already voided Morton's conviction in the murder of his wife, Christine Morton, who was beaten to death while lying in bed in their southwestern Williamson County home.
But Harle's signature Monday on the motion to dismiss charges formally released Morton from the murder case and brought the hearing to a close with a standing ovation from a packed courtroom.
"What befell you and your family many years ago was a horrendous tragedy," Harle said, commending Morton for never giving up his fight for innocence, even when he was offered a chance at parole if he accepted responsibility for his wife's murder.
And:
To call for another district judge to lead a court of inquiry, Harle would have to agree that there is probable cause that Anderson violated Texas law in his handling of the case. If the court is convened, Anderson would not be a defendant. Instead, the judge would attempt to determine, using affidavits and courtroom testimony, whether laws were broken.
Most of Monday's hearing was devoted to a 140-page report detailing the results of a defense-led investigation begun after Morton's release from prison in early October.
Morton lawyer Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project in New York, told Harle that the investigation's findings strongly suggested that Anderson concealed several pieces of evidence from Morton's trial lawyers in violation of two state laws: tampering with physical evidence, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison that includes concealing "any record or document," and intentionally concealing a government record, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Brandi Grissom posts, "Cleared of Murder, Morton Seeks Accountability," for the Texas Tribune.
A beaming Michael Morton kissed the piece of paper he had been waiting nearly 25 years for on Monday after Judge Sid Harle stepped down from the bench, shook his hand and gave him the order that officially cleared him of his wife’s 1986 murder.
"This is a happy day, obviously," Morton said after the court proceeding, his voice quaking. "But let's not forget this was a horrible crime. My wife's brains were splattered all over the bedroom, the ceiling."
Murder charges against the former grocery store manager were formally dismissed on Monday. Morton spent a quarter century behind bars for a crime that DNA evidence revealed this year he did not commit, and he was released from prison in October.
For Morton, though, the day full of hugs and happiness was not just about freedom. It was also about holding accountable the prosecutor who he alleges withheld evidence that could have led to his acquittal back in 1987. Morton and his lawyers asked Harle, a Bexar County state district judge, to launch an unprecedented court of inquiry to determine whether Ken Anderson broke state laws and violated professional ethics codes by withholding evidence when he prosecuted Morton.
And:
They argue that Anderson concealed police reports that Judge William S. Lott ordered him to disclose during the 1987 trial so that he could determine whether they might help Morton’s case. Lott found nothing exculpatory in the few pages he was provided by Anderson and ordered the record sealed.
When a different judge ordered the record unsealed in August, Morton’s lawyers discovered that Anderson had provided very few of the available police reports. Crucial pieces of evidence were missing, including 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.
Police reports from Morton’s neighbors were also missing. They told police they saw a man in a green van park near their home and walk into the woods behind their house. Gone from the file, too, were reports that Christine Morton’s credit card had been used and a check with her forged signature cashed after her death.
When Harle freed Morton based on the DNA evidence in October, he also authorized an unusual process that allowed his defense lawyers to investigate Anderson's conduct. The lawyers deposed the lead sheriff’s investigator, an assistant district attorney who worked with Anderson and the former prosecutor himself.
The AP report is, "Wrongfully imprisoned man wants probe," by Juan A. Lozano. It's via the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
A man wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 25 years for his wife’s murder said Monday that revenge isn’t his motive for seeking an investigation of the prosecutor he and his attorneys believe concealed evidence at his trial.
“A lot of people think I want a pound of flesh,” said Michael Morton, who was freed after new DNA evidence tied another man to the crime. “Revenge is a natural instinct, but it’s not what I’m looking for here, just accountability.”
Morton, 57, spoke Monday after a court hearing in which his attorneys presented findings from a blistering 138-page report in which they accuse the prosecutor in his case of committing “serious acts of misconduct.” The report asks state District Judge Sid Harle to assemble a special court of inquiry to investigate former prosecutor Ken Anderson on charges he disregarded an order at the original trial to turn over all evidence that could have supported Morton’s claims of innocence. The report also accuses Anderson of tampering with evidence and court records.
Fighting back tears, Morton said although his false imprisonment cost him a quarter century of his life and the chance to enjoy his son’s childhood, Monday was a “happy day” because he was able to ask a judge to investigate the allegations against Ken Anderson, who is now a state district judge.
And:
Morton’s attorneys also recommended several policy reforms for lawmakers to consider, including having the Texas Legislature hold hearings on simplifying rules for turning over evidence that could point to a defendant’s innocence.
"‘Extraordinary Legal Event’ Unfolds as Man Exonerated of Wife’s Murder Seeks to Hold DA Accountable,"
by Martha Neil at the ABA Journal.
If given the green light by Judge Sid Harle, a visiting jurist from Bexar County who took over the Morton case in August, the inquiry would apparently be the first of its kind concerning any of the more than 200 inmates nationwide who have been exonerated, like Morton, due to DNA evidence, according to the Times.
“I haven’t seen anything like this, ever,” law professor Bennet L. Gershman of Pace University told the newspaper. “It’s an extraordinary legal event.”
Anderson says he did nothing wrong and has questioned the authority of the court to investigate his work as a prosecutor so long ago.
Yesterday's New York Times carried, "Exonerated of Murder, Texan Seeks Inquiry on Prosecutor," by John Schwartz and Brandi Grissom.
Mr. Morton, who was a manager at an Austin supermarket and had no criminal history, was charged with the beating death of his wife, Christine, in 1986. He had contended that the killer must have entered their home after he left for work early in the morning. But Mr. Anderson convinced the jury that Mr. Morton, in a rage over his wife’s romantic rebuff the previous night — on Mr. Morton’s 32nd birthday — savagely beat her to death.
Mr. Morton was sentenced to life in prison. Beginning in 2005, he pleaded with the court to test DNA on a blue bandanna found near his home shortly after the murder, along with other evidence.
For six years, the Williamson County district attorney, John Bradley, fought the request for DNA testing, based on advice from Judge Anderson, his predecessor and friend. In 2010, however, a Texas court ordered the DNA testing, and the results showed that Mrs. Morton’s blood on the bandanna was mixed with the DNA of another man: Mark A. Norwood, a felon with a long criminal history who lived about 12 miles from the Mortons at the time of the murder. By then, Mr. Morton had spent nearly 25 years in prison.
Mr. Norwood has been arrested and charged in Mrs. Morton’s death and is a suspect in a similar murder from 1988.
And:
In an interview, Mr. Scheck said he hoped the court of inquiry proceeding would result in changes in law and policy that could promote greater fairness in criminal cases. Previous high-profile exonerations, he said, have led to new laws that improved access to DNA testing after conviction and provided generous compensation to those who were wrongfully convicted.
“This is one of those catalytic, iconic cases that leads to reform,” he said.
Earlier coverage of Michael Morton's exoneration begins at the link.
The responsibility of the state to provide exculpatory evidence to the defense was articulated in the 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland; more via Oyez. Related posts are in the prosecutorial misconduct index.
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