GUILTY CA - Christine Morton, 31, beaten to death, Williamson County, 13 Aug 1986

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I'm so glad this is posted here. This is an absolute OUTRAGE.

He is SUCH a victim of predatory prosecution. What an awful, awful and embarrassing story.
 
JeannaT said:
I'm so glad this is posted here. This is an absolute OUTRAGE.

He is SUCH a victim of predatory prosecution. What an awful, awful and embarrassing story.
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And his little son had to grow up without his daddy. This is a horrible, horrible story, and either the judge or the prosecutor or both deserve to sit in jail for 25 years for denying Eric a life with his dad and taking away 25 years of Michael Morton's life. It's outrageous!
 
http://digitaltexan.net/2013/austin-local-news/michael-morton-effect-senate-passes-prosecutor-accountability-bill/article50568/

The Michael Morton effect: Senate passes prosecutor accountability bill
Maurice Chammah | March 26, 2013
Morton’s lawyers allege that Ken Anderson, the prosecutor in the 1987 trial and now a state district judge in Williamson County, withheld evidence that would have been critical to Morton’s defense. Anderson has denied allegations of wrongdoing.

“We had a lot to be proud of and we still do,” he said at a court of inquiry last month, hearing last month, where a judge heard evidence about Anderson’s alleged role in the wrongful conviction. The judge is set to decide this spring whether Anderson should face criminal charges.
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joe jones said:
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/williamson/mark-norwood-murder-trial-may-wrap-up

closings expected today
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Same link has been updated. The new title is:

Mark Norwood guilty, sentenced to life
Verdict comes 9,723 days after Morton's murder

"Today is no day for a high-five or end-zone dance," said Christine's husband, Michael Morton, who spent 25 years behind bars. "Nothing that happened in there is going to bring Chris back."
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RIP Mrs. Morton
 
Cases like this are what I think of when I hear or read people lamenting the lengthy appeal process in our justice system... The facts are that this is happening not only in Texas but in just about every state of the Union. Poor people, people of color, people belonging to particular religions, people employed in less-than-savory jobs, people whose families are disliked by the community or by the prosecution in particular are "rail-roaded" every day by overzealous prosecutors who are more interested in their future political careers than in justice. The system rewards them when they seal a successful prosecution -- regardless if the guilty party is actually guilty or not. DAs proudly point to their bottom-line counts and say, "See? I've gotten all these bad-guys off the streets." The problem is that, in what we're discovering is a more and more common occurrence, their "win at all costs" philosophy is causing a heckuva lot of innocent people to pay for the crimes of others... It's a real shame.
 
Yesterday, Mark Norwood was found guilty & sentenced to life for the 1986 murder of Christine Morton in Williamson County, Texas. Christine's husband served 25 years for her murder before his conviction was overturned through DNA evidence with assistance from the Innocence Project.
Mark Norwood also has been indicted for the unsolved 1988 murder of Debra Baker in Austin, Texas.
Updated: Prosecutors Tell Norwood Jury of Second Murder
by Brandi Grissom
March 22, 2013
SAN ANGELO — Sitting in a blue wheelchair at the front of a Tom Green County courtroom on Friday, 89-year-old Gertrude Ann Masters told the jury how she found her daughter Debra Baker naked and beaten to death in her bed on the morning of January 13, 1988. (more at link)
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In this article, Grissom reports on the similarities between the 2 murders. Are there more that fit Norwood's profile?

His whereabouts:
Mark Norwood's 30 year criminal history timeline
1980-4/1983 Tennessee
4/1983 -1987 Texas
2007 - California
2010 - Texas

Does anyone consider Norwood to be a serial killer and possibly could have more than these 2 victims?
 
Ken Anderson charged with misconduct during 1987 Michael Morton murder trial

Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was arrested and booked into jail, then quickly released, for the “intentionally harmful act” of hiding favorable evidence to secure Michael Morton’s 1987 conviction for murder, the court of inquiry found.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/ken-anderson-court-of-inquiry-resumes/nXRLm/
 
momtective said:
Ken Anderson charged with misconduct during 1987 Michael Morton murder trial

Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was arrested and booked into jail, then quickly released, for the “intentionally harmful act” of hiding favorable evidence to secure Michael Morton’s 1987 conviction for murder, the court of inquiry found.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/ken-anderson-court-of-inquiry-resumes/nXRLm/
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YNN news outlet facebook page has Ken Anderson's mugshot up and comments are coming in:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....130148173697055.12807.118091971569342&type=1
 
WOW. :thud: Good for them. He would not do well in jail, I suspect.

I just finished watching Ken Burns' Central Park Five which was on Tuesday PBS stations. I wish they had chased Lederer with something like this.
 
https://www.propublica.org/article/reversal-of-fortune-a-prosecutor-on-trial

Reversal of Fortune: A Prosecutor on Trial

by Raymond Bonner, Special to ProPublica, April 29, 2013, 11:49 a.m.

For 30 years, Ken Anderson was the face of law enforcement in Williamson County, Texas, first as a bearded district attorney asking the court for tough sentences, and for the last 10 years handing those kinds of sentences out as a judge.
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More at link. This is an ongoing investigation into prosecutors who abuse their authority.
 
People seem to be confused over the role of the D.A. in the American legal system.

Defense Attorneys are required, REQUIRED, to advocate for their client; even if they know they are guilty.

D.A.s, on the other hand, have a different role. They advocate FOR THE PEOPLE, and the PEOPLE'S interest is NEVER served if innocent defendants are convicted. They are REQUIRED to drop charges if they come to doubt the guilt of the defendant EVEN IF THEY BELIEVE THEY CAN GET A CONVICTION.
 
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/16/gov-rick-perry-signs-michael-morton-act/

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With exoneree Michael Morton by his side, Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday signed a measure that aims to avoid wrongful convictions by preventing prosecutors from suppressing evidence.
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http://www.kvue.com/news/Civil-hearing-for-Ken-Anderson-set-for-Friday-221679311.html

Anderson faces felony charges with how he handled Michael Morton's murder trial back in 1987.

On Aug. 30 Anderson will be in court in Georgetown so a visiting judge can hear a motion from the State Bar of Texas' Commission for Lawyer Discipline. The result could be Anderson being disbarred.
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Hopefully, this is just a formality suspending his license & disbarring him from practicing law.

video, poll & more at link
 
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