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Justice Served? Morton says he takes no pleasure in turning tables on Williamson DA Anderson (updat
Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2013, 12:16 AM - Edit history (2)
Over seven days of trial in February 1987, Michael Morton sat at the defense table while his prosecutor, Ken Anderson, portrayed him as an emotionally cruel, perverted killer to jurors who found him guilty of murder in less than two hours.
This week, in an extraordinary reversal of fortune, it was Anderson’s turn to sit at a defense table while lawyers argued his fate.
A now-exonerated Morton has been about 15 feet away — first on the witness stand, where he got to look Anderson in the eye while he recounted the brutality of prison and the losses he suffered, and lately from the courtroom audience, where he watches the back of Anderson’s head from the front-row bench he shares with his fiancee and mother.
“I don’t want to say that it was sweet, because it wasn’t,” Morton told the American-Statesman. “It’s like a hard duty. We don’t revel in our enemy’s pain or suffering, but it was one of those things that I think has to happen, because the big picture here is accountability.”
Through the work of Morton and his lawyers, a court of inquiry was convened Monday to examine allegations that Anderson broke state laws by hiding evidence to secure a guilty verdict, robbing Morton of 25 years of freedom, a relationship with his then-toddler son and a chance to grieve his murdered wife, Christine.
This week, in an extraordinary reversal of fortune, it was Anderson’s turn to sit at a defense table while lawyers argued his fate.
A now-exonerated Morton has been about 15 feet away — first on the witness stand, where he got to look Anderson in the eye while he recounted the brutality of prison and the losses he suffered, and lately from the courtroom audience, where he watches the back of Anderson’s head from the front-row bench he shares with his fiancee and mother.
“I don’t want to say that it was sweet, because it wasn’t,” Morton told the American-Statesman. “It’s like a hard duty. We don’t revel in our enemy’s pain or suffering, but it was one of those things that I think has to happen, because the big picture here is accountability.”
Through the work of Morton and his lawyers, a court of inquiry was convened Monday to examine allegations that Anderson broke state laws by hiding evidence to secure a guilty verdict, robbing Morton of 25 years of freedom, a relationship with his then-toddler son and a chance to grieve his murdered wife, Christine.
More including a video interview with Morton at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/exclusive-interview-morton-says-he-takes-no-pleasu/nWHGF/#cmComments .
2/6/2013 8:20 p.m. UPDATE: Morton's lawyer says new evidence would have made the defense.
Bill White, one of two lawyers who represented Michael Morton at his 1987 trial, stated adamantly and repeatedly that Ken Anderson never told him about two key pieces of evidence that “would have made the defense.”
“Nobody knows what would’ve happened if we had it, but we didn’t,” White said,
First was the transcript of a police interview that revealed the Mortons’ 3-year-old son, Eric, said a monster attacked his mother while Michael Morton was not home.
Perhaps more important, White said, was a police report taken from a neighbor who said a suspicious man parked a green van on the street behind the Morton home and, on several occasions, walked into the wooded area behind their home.
“Nobody knows what would’ve happened if we had it, but we didn’t,” White said,
First was the transcript of a police interview that revealed the Mortons’ 3-year-old son, Eric, said a monster attacked his mother while Michael Morton was not home.
Perhaps more important, White said, was a police report taken from a neighbor who said a suspicious man parked a green van on the street behind the Morton home and, on several occasions, walked into the wooded area behind their home.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/witness-describes-anderson-prosecution-strategy/nWHH6/#cmComments
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