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.
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