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Friday, January 20Morton lawyers: Anderson’s silence ‘speaks volumes’Legal brief rejects judge’s arguments against inquiry By ANDREW McLEMORE It’s what Judge Ken Anderson doesn’t say that’s interesting. That’s how Michael Morton’s attorneys responded to the judge’s legal arguments against investigating his conduct in a 1986 murder case. The two teams of lawyers — one representing Mr. Morton, who was wrongfully convicted and spent 25 years in prison, and another representing Judge Anderson, who prosecuted him as district attorney in 1987 — are vying for the attention of District Judge Sid Harle. Judge Harle is tasked with deciding if a court of inquiry should be convened to consider allegations that Judge Anderson withheld evidence from Mr. Morton’s attorneys 24 years ago. The two attorneys for Judge Anderson wrote earlier this month that it would “compound the tragedy” of Mr. Morton’s wrongful conviction to pursue criminal charges against the former prosecutor. They argued that a court of inquiry was not an appropriate vehicle for such an investigation. In a 27-page rebuttal, Mr. Morton’s attorneys with the New York-based Innocence Project say the judge fails to address many of the most salient details about his conduct during the Morton trial. Defense lawyers claimed during and immediately after the 1987 trial that the prosecution was withholding evidence suggesting Mr. Morton might be innocent. Yet Judge Anderson never attempted to explain until this month’s brief why so many police reports weren’t made available to the court, Mr. Morton’s attorneys said. “Nor do Mr. Anderson’s counsel mention — much less explain — the damning fact that their client effectively stood mute in response to these allegations during 24 years of post-trial proceedings,” the attorneys wrote. “A quarter century later, his silence still speaks volumes.” The brief from Anderson’s lawyers doesn’t address a statement made by Assistant District Attorney Mike Davis, who told the jury that many reports were withheld from defense attorneys. It doesn’t address defense lawyers’ motion for a new trial, which demanded information about those reports. Judge Anderson “dodged” the issue of withheld evidence during appeals, Mr. Morton’s lawyers said, and that also was not addressed in the brief. As a result, the need for a court of inquiry to determine if the former district attorney committed criminal misconduct is still very real, Mr. Morton’s attorneys said. Though Judge Anderson argues the statute of limitations precludes the formation of an inquiry, Mr. Morton’s attorneys say the purpose of the court would be to determine if an offense was committed, not to prosecute the judge. If the court finds that Judge Anderson did violate the law, that could have important consequences, either through disciplinary action by the State Bar of Texas or at the polls if the judge seeks reelection, Mr. Morton’s attorneys wrote. “The Court of Inquiry statute thus remains a wholly legitimate vehicle to investigate and pursue probable violations of this State’s criminal laws,” the attorneys said in their brief. “And it remains particularly appropriate in cases where, as here, the target of the inquiry is a public official whose misconduct might otherwise evade investigation.”
Thursday, January 19Judge delays Norwood hearingLawyer says murder suspect ‘prepared to fight’ By ANDREW McLEMORE Mark Alan Norwood, the accusedmurderer of Christine
Morton, walked into a Williamson County courtroom for the first time
Wednesday.
Investigators hit roadblock in unsolved murder caseBy ANDREW McLEMORE Mark Alan Norwood, the man charged with the 1986 murder of Christine Morton, is not the source of DNA taken from the 1980 crime scene of Mildred McKinney, a Williamson County investigator said Monday. Mr. Norwood, 57, has been linked by DNA evidence to two murders: Ms. Morton and Debra Baker, who was found dead in her north Austin home in 1988. Chilling similarities between the Morton and McKinney cases — both women were found beaten to death and had household items stacked on their bodies — suggested a serial killer might be responsible. But DNA taken from Ms. McKinney, who was also raped, did not match Mr. Norwood, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Foster said. Full Story
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Anderson: Accusations of misconduct ‘unfortunate’By ANDREW McLEMORE
The judge’s lawyers filed a 143-page response Monday to accusations from the New York-based Innocence Project that he broke the law by failing to comply with a court-ordered inspection of evidence. Mr. Morton’s attorneys have misrepresented what happened 24 years ago and what the law actually required of prosecutors in 1987, said the legal brief written by the judge’s attorneys, Mark Dietz and Eric Nichols. “It is unfortunate that the Innocence Project has attempted to leverage good work done by it and others on Mr. Morton’s behalf — to serve his exoneration — into unjustified and insupportable allegations of criminal conduct by Ken Anderson,” the attorneys said. Full Story |
Anderson’s lawyer: Don’t ‘compound tragedy’
It’s been two weeks since Michael Morton’s lawyers asked a visiting district judge to convene a court of inquiry into the actions of Judge Ken Anderson, who could face criminal charges over allegations that he suppressed evidence in a murder case. Judge Anderson has not filed a legal response to the report from Morton’s attorneys, but court documents reveal many of the arguments that the former district attorney will likely make to prove his own innocence of prosecutorial misconduct. In a December 14 letter, the judge’s attorney, Mark Dietz, asked the Innocence Project attorneys representing Mr. Morton if they were going to release a report on their investigation of Judge Anderson’s conduct. Mr. Dietz said they lacked the legal authority for further legal proceedings against the judge. If they were going to submit a report anyway, Mr. Dietz requested that he and Judge Anderson be allowed to review it first. “As he has said, Mr. Anderson truly regrets the injustice caused to your client,” Mr. Dietz wrote. “At the same time, adding more injustice to this situation would only serve to compound the tragedy.” Full Story |
Anderson, Davis face investigation over conductBy ANDREW McLEMORE
After a Texas advocacy group filed a complaint against the two prosecutors in November, the bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel informed the organization in two December 27 letters that it would pursue the alleged ethics violations. A State Bar representative said Tuesday she could not comment on pending grievances, but a spokesperson announced in October that the group was pursuing a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of Mr. Morton’s prosecutors. “We are very, very pleased that they have agreed to investigate those matters,” said Julie Oliver, the executive director of the Texas Coalition on Lawyer Accountability. “Prosecutorial misconduct is so rarely investigated that it’s a good sign. We’re very happy about that.” The State Bar also dismissed a complaint filed against District Attorney John Bradley for his involvement in the Michael Morton case.
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Judge finalizes Morton’s exoneration
In a rare move for any judge, Sid Harle stepped down from the bench Monday to shake Michael Morton’s hand on the floor of a Williamson County courtroom. He handed Mr. Morton a dismissal of his 1986 murder indictment — the final step in officially exonerating an innocent man who spent 25 years in prison. “I think you’ve probably had enough of judges looking down on you,” Judge Harle said. “As I hand this to you, I want to tell you once again that I admire you. God bless you, Merry Christmas, and happy new year.” The room erupted in applause as Mr. Morton brought the paper to his face and kissed it, a smile splitting his face at this ultimate acknowledgment that he was innocent of killing his wife, Christine Morton. “This is a happy day, obviously,” Mr. Morton said in a press conference after the hearing. “But let’s not forget that a crime was committed. My wife’s brains were splattered all over the bedroom. The ceiling. I lost all of my son’s youth. He’s 28 now… it’s all gone.”
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Anderson 'upset' by sheriff's Morton investigation
In his second deposition, Williamson County Judge Ken Anderson said he was “upset” that some evidence from the Michael Morton case was never fully investigated or turned over to defense attorneys. Judge Anderson, who prosecuted Mr. Morton as district attorney in 1987, said it is “highly troublesome” that an innocent man was convicted and served 25 years in prison. Mr. Morton’s attorneys questioned the former prosecutor for nine hours on October 31 and for another three hours on November 11. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, which represents Mr. Morton, posed increasingly pointed questions to Judge Anderson about evidence of Mr. Morton’s innocence that his original attorneys never saw at trial. The judge suggested near the end of the second deposition that he was frustrated by Mr. Scheck’s questions. “You know, Mr. Scheck, you make these statements and these accusations, and you are acting like I have done something wrong, and it just — you know, I am upset about an innocent man being convicted,” he said. “I don’t know how to convey that in the form of a deposition.” |
Anderson remembers little in nine-hour inquiryBy ANDREW McLEMORE The two lawmen would meet at the now long-gone L&M Café in downtown Georgetown to debate the next step of an investigation, Judge Anderson wrote. Judge Anderson backed away from those statements in a nine-hour deposition obtained by the Sun on Tuesday. The deposition was meant to determine why some evidence was withheld when Judge Anderson, then the county’s district attorney, prosecuted Michael Morton in 1987 for the murder of his wife, Christine Morton. Mr. Morton spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and his current attorneys with the New York-based Innocence Project say concealed evidence could have proved his innocence to a jury. Most of that evidence was found in the files of the sheriff’s office, but in the October 31 deposition Judge Anderson said he doesn’t remember learning about any of it. He said he oversold the degree to which he and the sheriff discussed each case. |
Group files grievance against Morton prosecutorsBy ANDREW McLEMORE
In a Monday statement, the Texas Coalition on Lawyer Accountability demanded that the three men be disbarred — ending their ability to practice law — for their involvement in prosecuting Michael Morton, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and spent 25 years in prison. Judge Anderson, Mr. Davis and Mr. Bradley have engaged in unethical conduct with “tragic, horrific consequences,” the group said, accusing each of them of violating at least one of 12 ethics codes for Texas lawyers. The possible violations include: committing a criminal act, assisting or inducing misconduct, obstructing justice, violating laws concerning professional conduct, duty to report misconduct by lawyers, false statement to a court, violating a court order, and deceit, dishonesty and misrepresentation. In a November 16 press conference, Judge Anderson denied wrongdoing by any of the prosecutors involved in the case. Mr. Davis and Mr. Bradley have also denied misconduct. |
Anderson apologizes for wrongful convictionBy ANDREW McLEMORE Judge Ken Anderson is “sick” over the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton, who spent 25 years in prison for murder after the former district attorney prosecuted him for killing his wife. Two hours after the judge told reporters he would finally talk about his role in the case, Mr. Anderson gave a press conference on the steps of the courthouse, the same place he helped convict Mr. Morton in 1987. “I want to formally apologize to Michael Morton and everyone else who was adversely affected by this verdict,” Mr. Anderson said Wednesday afternoon. “My hope and prayer is that Michael Morton will be able to move forward… What happened shouldn’t have happened. It’s inconceivable.” Mr. Morton was freed early last month after DNA evidence linked another man to the 1986 murder of his wife, Christine Morton, as well as the 1988 murder of Debra Baker in Austin. That man, Mark Alan Norwood, was arrested last week and charged with Christine Morton’s murder. Judge Anderson, his assisting prosecutor Mike Davis and chief investigator Don Wood have faced accusations of misconduct by Mr. Morton’s attorneys, who claim they likely withheld evidence at trial that could have proved his innocence to the jury. That evidence includes a credit card and check stolen from the Morton crime scene and used days after Christine Morton was murdered. Though he said that he doesn’t recall much of the Morton trial, Judge Anderson denied any deliberate wrongdoing by himself or Mr. Davis. “In my heart, I know there was no misconduct whatsoever,” he said. “There really is a lot of pressure on prosecutors to get it right… I’d like some time to reflect.” |
Suspect arrested in Morton murderBy ANDREW McLEMORE
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Testimony sheds new light on Morton caseBy ANDREW McLEMOREShock. That’s how Mike Davis described his reaction to the DNA tests that proved Michael Morton innocent of his wife’s murder. During a two-hour deposition with Mr. Morton’s attorneys on October 29, the Round Rock attorney said he’d also been “shocked” to learn that some evidence had never been turned over to the defense during the 1987 trial. As second-chair prosecutor in the Williamson County murder case, Mr. Davis helped put Mr. Morton in prison, where he stayed for 25 years. At some point in early October, Mr. Davis went to the office of Judge Ken Anderson, who’d handled the case as district attorney. Mr. Davis wanted to ask him about an interview of Mr. Morton’s mother-in-law. Eleven days after the murder, Mr. Morton’s mother-in-law tells the case’s chief investigator that her 3-year-old grandson had seen a “monster” who wasn’t “Daddy” killing his mother. It would be “horrible” if defense attorneys never saw that interview, Mr. Davis said, but Judge Anderson assured his former assistant district attorney that the interview had been turned over to the court. |
Until proven innocent — Part 3: The AftermathPublished October 23, 2011 By ANDREW MCLEMOREBoth families cried the day Michael Morton was sentenced to life in prison, if for different reasons. After a Williamson County jury convicted Morton of murdering his wife, Rita Kirkpatrick left the Georgetown courtroom in tears. She’d seen justice done when they convicted her son-in-law of killing her daughter — the beautiful, blue-eyed Christine Morton. “It’s over, it’s finally over,” she said. “They didn’t bring my daughter back, but it’s over. Now I can let her die.” Christine’s father Jack Kirkpatrick told a newspaper before the trial that his entire family was convinced of Michael’s guilt. As bailiffs led Michael out of the courtroom, he turned to his father-in-law and said in a soft voice, “I swear to God, Jack, I didn’t do it.” Michael’s mother sobbed quietly. His father was in shock. Michael said his family had been “financially wiped out” paying for his defense attorneys. They still believed their son was innocent, but now the trial was over. Pat and Billy Morton’s son would be sent off to a Texas prison, likely for the rest of his life. |
Morton case prosecutors resist inquiryPublished October 21, 2011 By ANDREW McLEMOREMichael Morton’s attorneys have vowed to uncover why compelling evidence of his innocence was kept secret for 25 years, but a flurry ofmotions filed this week suggests getting an answer won’t be easy. The prosecutors, District Judge Ken Anderson and Round Rock attorney Mike Davis, both moved to quash subpoenas that would force them to testify underoath next week and hand over all documents relevant to the Morton case. The two men prosecuted Mr. Morton in 1987 for his wife’s murder, convincing a jury to convict him of the crime and send him to life in prison. |
DA sends Morton reinvestigation to AG's officePublished October 17, 2011 By ANDREW McLEMOREThe Texas Attorney General’s office has agreed to serve as special prosecutor in the reinvestigation of the 1986 Williamson County murder of Christine Morton, whose husband Michael Morton was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. After 25 years in prison, Mr. Morton was exonerated October 4 with the discovery of DNA evidence linking another man to the crime, proving that he had been wrongfully convicted in 1987. |
Until proven innocent — Part 2: The TrialPublished October 16, 2011 By ANDREW MCLEMOREThings got hard when Eric was born. He was delivered through a C-section and just hours later doctors had to perform surgery because his esophagus didn’t go all the way to his stomach. The newborn spent three weeks at Seton Hospital. He was later diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He had to have medication every six hours. As he grew, Michael and Christine Morton noticed he didn’t have the energy of the other kids. He would turn blue unexpectedly, alarming his parents. Michael and Christine did everything they could to keep Eric alive until he was three years old, when doctors said his chances of survival would be much greater. |
Bradley retracts motion to speed up exonerationPublished October 16, 2011 By ANDREW MCLEMORE
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Higher court finalizes Morton's freedomPublished October 12, 2011 By ANDREW MCLEMOREMichael Morton’s release from prison was approved by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday morning, removing any doubt that the justice system will continue to hold him responsible for his wife’s murder. The 57-year-old man wrongfully convicted in 1987 of killing Christine Morton was with his parents in Gregg County when he received the news. He and his parents, Bill and Pat Morton, declined to comment until consulting with attorneys with the Innocence Project. With the court ruling, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley can throw out the indictment of Mr. Morton from 1986, officially freeing him from the bond conditions set by a district court judge when he was released October 4. Under those conditions, he was not allowed to leave Texas, contact his wife’s family or leave the supervision of a court officer. The court ruled that newly discovered evidence — DNA tests linking another man to Christine Morton’s murder as well as another Travis County murder in 1988 — proved that Mr. Morton was innocent of the crime. |
Until proven innocent — Part 1: The Investigation
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Morton leaves courthouse a free manPublished October 5, 2011 By ANDREW MCLEMORE After 25 years behind bars, 57-year-old Michael Morton raised his head to the sun and walked out of the Williamson County Justice Center on Tuesday afternoon a free man. He won’t be fully exonerated until his overturned murder conviction is approved by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, but that technicality didn’t prevent the man who lost a quarter century of his life from making jokes or clutching tight the parents who never stopped believing in his innocence. |
District Attorney concedes Morton's innocence
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By ANDREW McLEMORE 
The State Bar of Texas will investigate allegations of misconduct by Judge Ken Anderson and Round Rock attorney Mike Davis for their involvement in the Michael Morton case.
By ANDREW McLEMORE 
By ANDREW McLEMORE 
In his 1997 book “Crime in Texas,” Williamson County District Judge Ken Anderson said he and Sheriff Jim Boutwell “painstakingly pieced together circumstantial murder cases.”
A Texas advocacy group is filing grievances with the State Bar against Judge Ken Anderson, Round Rock attorney Mike Davis and Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.
