23 Apr 2013
We reported in our blog on May 25, 2012 (Wrongful Convictions in Texas) about a number of convictions that have been overturned based upon false confessions and eyewitness misidentification, among other things. One of those other things is prosecutorial misconduct, and an example is unfolding as we speak. It involves the case of Michael Morton, who was convicted of murder, given a life sentence, and spent 25 years in prison before being released from prison in 2011 based upon new DNA evidence showing he did not commit the murder of his wife back in 1986.
A judge involved in the release had ordered an investigation into the conduct of the then District Attorney in the case, Ken Anderson, who had since become Williamson County judge. Last week, after a hearing on the charges, a judge found that there was sufficient evidence to arrest the former prosecutor on three charges: criminal contempt of court, evidence tampering, and tampering with government records.
The charges against Anderson relate to his alleged concealment from the defense of statements by the couple’s three year old son, who apparently witnessed the murder and told government investigators that his father did not commit the crime. Also concealed, according to the allegations, were statements by neighbors, who said that they saw a man in the area in a dark green van just prior to the murder.
The issue involves what is known as “exculpatory evidence”, or evidence that is favorable to the defendant (in this case the statements by the son and the neighbors). It could be evidence which supports the defendant’s innocence, which involves the credibility of witnesses, or which might reduce the penalty the defendant might suffer if convicted. Prosecutors who come into possession of such evidence must, under the United States Supreme Court case of Brady v. Maryland, disclose it to the defense.
We’ll have to wait to see now these charges turn out. In the meantime, the DNA evidence in the case led to the arrest and conviction of another man for the slaying. That man has also been indicted for the murder of a second woman, who lived near Morton, which occurred in Austin in 1988.
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Austin, TX 78701
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