Monday, April 22, 2013

Judge Sturns on Ken Anderson

A reader forwarded me a copy of Friday's ruling by Judge Louis Sturns against Judge Ken Anderson from the Michael Morton court of inquiry. Here's the link for those interested in reading the whole thing and a few related news stories for more background:
MORE: See analysis of the ruling from the blog Simple Justice. AND MORE: From Mark Bennett on the statute of limitations question. Y MAS: from Paul Kennedy.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can honestly say, this is the first real justice I've seen in a long time.

Anonymous said...

Were you surprised? Where does this go from here? Do you believe this was a "one-time" indiscretion with the Morton case?

Anonymous said...

Justice should be looking back at the D.A. Mike Anderson of Harris County. His run for office at the time was to complain about the current administrations pretrial diversion for D.W.I. and now it is reported that his office is currently conducting the same procedures with less penalty's.

Don said...

Anon. 12:52 Really? You see that as comparable??? OMG!

Don said...

John Bradley is responsible for several of the years Morton spent in prison. But nothing we can do about that germ, I guess.

Anonymous said...

This is just a fluke or rogue prosecutor so don't taint the profession with inferences.

Anonymous said...

Well, one thing about it, with all of this vehement "throw the book at him" discussion directed at Ken Anderson here of late, I'm beginning to think the Grits faithful are a helluva lot more pro-prosecution than I ever gave them credit for. Hey liberals, there are robbers, rapists, druggies and murderers that need to go to the pen too! Come join us on that law and order bandwagon! There's still room!

Gritsforbreakfast said...

8:14, you could have stopped at "I'm beginning to think." And indeed, it's about time. Otherwise your mis-characterizations (which you seem to feel obligated to repeat in string after string) tell us a lot more about you than Grits readers, who include many cops, prosecutors, jailers, probation officers, and plenty of other folks throughout the justice system.

Anonymous said...

Instead of being pro-prosecution or pro-defense, I'd rather be pro-Constitution and pro-justice. Texas law requires that prosecutors first duty is not to convict but to do justice. I would think that someone who truly believes in "law and order" would understand that.

Anonymous said...

It's going to be okay, I just caught myself attempting to reply directly to a highjacker's demands also.

Before the day's end, someone will give in and look at him again, while the revolving blog-cops hone in on Don's use of three question marks and save the day. Hopefully, I can influence a few to just ignore the naked man in the corner and concentrate on the blog's topic.

Remember, just because he called on liberals to agree with him & join his cause isn't a reason to ask him to go fuck himself, just yet. It looks like he's starting to get it and just might earn his Grits Faithful badge after all. BTW, this is the very first time he utterd the words Pro-Prosecution.

Anonymous said...

Grits, you can safely include Senators, State Reps., conservatives, the exonerated & the unexoneratables to the growing list of subscribers / readers.

I'm teaching my dog how to blog in his spare time, so you can look forward to adding canine as soon as he masters Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Anonymous said...

After reading the 15 page document, one has to wonder if the punishment will fit the crime(s). Appriciate the link.

Something says he'll simply plea bargain and rec probation. The special kind that allows you to: report from home, keep firearms and frequent locations that serve alcohol. After all, plea bargaining was invented to cater to the elite criminals way before the USSC green-lighted its use in 97% of today's criminal cases.

Sadly, something also tells me that had it (Court of Inquiry) been held in the dark, the outcome would've been different. Just goes to show that the power of illumination is the enemy of criminals, no matter the color of ones blood, skin and friends in high places.

Anonymous said...

If you check out the link to the Comical, you'll see these words -

"Judge Sturns apologized to Morton on behalf of the state of Texas and the judiciary in Williamson County before finally getting to the heart of matter."

If anyone has the transcript of the exact words used in the strange apology please post for all to share. Prior to learning about this apology, we truly beleived he was heroic and deserved priase for not letting his duty get in the way of despensing justice.

Anonymous said...

One has to wonder how many more Michael Morton's are sitting in prisons in this country who will never be able to prove their innocence. More than a few, I'm afraid. While its hard to say that a man who spent 25 years in prison is "lucky." He is extremely lucky that he is not still there.

JH said...

The most troubling sattement: Additionally, as Mr. Anderson explained during the Court of Inquiry, although Brady requires prosecutors to release exculpatory evidence to the defense, as an attorneyy and former prosecutor, he does not believe in the release of such evidence if it may result in freeing an individual that he believes is guilty. Paragraph 42.

This is not an atypical belief among prosecutors. I am a former prosecutor, and Brady is simply not understood in the same way by the prosecutors and criminal defense bar. The training the prosecutors receive regarding Brady is simply insufficient.

Anon Anon said...

After attending the inquiry in Feb. I published this analysis of potential findings by Sturns:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2222185

I also recently posted a comment on the Statesman that argues that Anderson's defense is fatally flawed for two reasons: 1. that they have coincidentally argued that the documents are protected work -product that is not covered under the relevant penal code; and
2. That the argument is just a "selling out" of Bradley. In other words, a look into the merits of the argument wont' do anything to contradict the underlying finding of concealment, but rather will only show even more concealment and will lead to concluding Bradley is a co-conspirator.

Blogger--please email me thewearefedupparty@gmail.com--I would also like to talk with you about some other issues on this matter.

Anonymous said...

2013 'Trading Places' Judge Anderson and Mr. Morton play Louis Winthorpe and William Valentine, Permanently. What a dock of a deuche and he should get pummeled like one in prison. How can we set an example of what happens to cheaters when fucks like him knowingly send people he chooses to prison for life, and accept awards when they are the one whom is corrupt and evil. Look at the faces of the two men and whom has aged better. The truth is written on their faces. If Texas as a state has any balls, they will put this fuck in with the general population in a maximum security environment. None of this I accidentally buulshhit. He already had twenty five fine years on the taxpayer dole and I believe further investigation of whom he sent away will soon open the closet to many buried skeletons and secrets. Fuck that piece of Texas trash.

Please just blur the offensive words.

Anonymous said...

Prime example of how absolute power corrupts. Fuck your system.