Until proven innocent — Part 1: The Investigation

Published October 9, 2011

By ANDREW MCLEMORE

In April 1987, less than two months after a jury sentenced him to life in prison, 32-year-old Michael Morton wrote a letter begging for the right to see his son.

His wife had been murdered nine months before and nearly everyone believed him guilty — possibly even the sister-in-law who would raise his orphaned 3-year-old.

Judge William Lott presided over Morton’s murder trial and would now pass judgment on whether the father convicted of beating his wife to death would ever get to see Eric again.

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Until proven innocent — Part 2: The Trial

Published October 16, 2011

By ANDREW MCLEMORE

Things 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.

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Until proven innocent — Part 3: The Aftermath

Published October 23, 2011

By ANDREW MCLEMORE

Both 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.

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