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Ex-Prosecutor Is Punished for a Wrongful Conviction


Posted: Nov 9, 2013

 

Ex-Prosecutor Is Punished for a Wrongful Conviction

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GEORGETOWN, Tex. — A former Texas prosecutor who was charged over a wrongful murder conviction has agreed to a 10-day sentence, accepting the punishment in front of the innocent man he helped put in prison for nearly 25 years.

The former district attorney, Ken Anderson, also will be disbarred and must serve 500 hours of community service as part of a deal that is expected to end all criminal and civil cases against him.

Mr. Anderson, 61, who was the face of the law in a tough-on-crime Texas county for 30 years, never spoke in his return on Friday to the same Williamson County courthouse where he was a judge for 11 years before resigning in September.

Sitting behind Mr. Anderson in the gallery was Michael Morton, who was released from prison in 2011 after DNA evidence showed that he did not beat his wife to death in 1986.

“It’s a good day,” said Mr. Morton, surrounded by relatives.

Mr. Anderson entered a plea of no contest to contempt of court. The charge stemmed from a 1987 exchange in which Mr. Anderson, then the Williamson County district attorney, was asked by a judge if he had anything to offer that was favorable to Mr. Morton’s defense. He said no.

But among the evidence Mr. Morton’s lawyers say was kept from them were statements from Mr. Morton’s 3-year-old son, who witnessed the killing and said his father was not responsible. There were also interviews with neighbors who told the authorities that they saw another man near the Morton home before the killing.

Mr. Anderson has previously apologized to Mr. Morton for what he called failures in the system but has said he believes that there was no misconduct.

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humpfff - better go after ALL of

[ In Reply To ..]
the judges and juries of some recent high profile cases then that also have been wrongful convictions! why stop with just one?? They all keep "evidence" from being presented in these cases. why punish just one??

prosecuter punished - nana

[ In Reply To ..]
Because it has to start somewhere. There is one, then two, then three.

How are you going to hold juries responsible for a wrongful conviction? They convict/exonorate on the evidence given to them. It's the judges, the prosecuters and defense attorneys that are responsible for withholding information.

My question is why did Mr. Anderson not have to stand in front of everyone and admit wrong doing? The words should have come out of his mouth that he did wrong, that he wrongfully let a man go to prison knowing he was not guilty. In my opinion Mr. Anderson should serve the remaining sentence.

So I bet if this continues and prosecuters face prison time, maybe that will encourage them to withhold the vow they promised to take, justice for all. No one, and I mean no one should be above the law of the land.

Don't forget, a big part of a judge's job is to decide - if what is called evidence is lawful

[ In Reply To ..]
to present. There are giant good reasons for this. All judges in all advanced nations, and most village elders around the globe I suspect, do this.

This particular case is about CRIMINAL actions by a person in the justice system, in this case a prosecutor in the local District Attorney's office. You might be right in that they should go after the DA at that time, too. Where was he when all this was going on? He was the prosecutor's boss and assigned the case to this prosecutor. He was supposed to monitor all the work on it; it's highly likely he knew about this crime as it occurred, which means he colluded in it.

I will go a step further - MacroDiva

[ In Reply To ..]
Every single case under that District Attorney (DA), not just the specific DDA (deputy district attorney) needs to be reopened, every bit of evidence, "work product," EVERYTHING in each and every case, needs to be turned over to each and every defendant's attorney, and every single case retried. In addition, if there is DNA evidence used to convict, that DNA evidence needs to go to an outside independent lab, if there is no DNA left to examine, then the DNA needs to be excluded, telephone taps and wires need to be carefully examined by an independent forensics expert to make sure there was no tampering. This includes not examining it electronically, but looking at voice patterns as well. If there is corruption with one case, it should be assumed there is corruption with every case. I know it is expensive, but we the people of each and every county in each and every state of the union should be responsible for what our elected officials do.

Above all, we need to take the financial incentive out of convictions. Prosecutors should be well paid, but there should NEVER be a bonus for a case won. Furthermore we need to realize that a DA with a 100%, or near-100% conviction rate, is probably very corrupt and this kind of conviction rate should invite the attention of the state attorney general or the Feds.
Agree totally. Also, if prosecutors were jailed - for their crimes, they're refuse instructions
[ In Reply To ..]
boost the DA's win record.

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