New DNA evidence discovered will set a man free, 25 years after he went to prison, convicted of killing his wife. Michael Morton will appear on Tuesday in Williamson County Court and officially released after Monday's decision by Judge Sid Harle.In the KXAN story, Williamson County DA John Bradley attempted to minimize his role in delaying this result: "When this case was decided, the ink was barely dry on my license," he declared. In the comments at KXAN I replied, "Hmmmm ... How dry was the ink on Bradley's law license when his office fought DNA testing of the bloody bandana for the last six years while the DA disparaged Morton in the media and belittled defense attorneys for 'grasping at straws'?" What a disingenuous response!
His attorneys said new DNA results prove Morton did not kill his wife back in 1986, and they asked that he be released immediately.
Harle agreed, after hearing of new evidence giving cause for why Morton should be set free. Morton could be out of prison as early as Monday night.
See the long overdue joint motion (pdf) filed by the Williamson DA's Office and the defense that will soon make Mr. Morton a free man. Congratulations to Mr. Morton, his family, attorneys, and everyone else involved.
MORE: From AP, the Texas Tribune, the Austin Statesman, and WilcoWatchdog.org,
See related Grits posts:
- John Bradley called too 'biased' to fairly evaluate DNA innocence claim
- Innocence 'trumps' when prosecutors can't destroy evidence
- Possible false convictions from decades past
- Did exculpatory evidence withheld in Michael Morton case amount to 'fraud' by Williamson County prosecutors?
- Unlikely allies: Victim's daughter, convicted murderer, team up to challenge Williamson DA in DNA request
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10 comments:
For the life of me, I can't understand what's wrong with the people of Williamson County. I know what's wrong with Bradley. He's crazy. But they need to get rid of this guy!
Since Bradley was the only thing standing in the way of Morton being released six years ago, Bradley should be on the hook for the extra $480,000 in compensation Morton will be entitled to.
I know it doesn't work that way, but it should.
(Plus, how the heck can anyone claim to be tough on crime while protecting a murder from paying for his crimes for over half a decade?)
Bradley cannot stand to be wrong...
Amazing how nothing happened until Judge Harle--who is not afraid to let justice be done--was appointed. Wilco judges too afraid to defy Bradley. What's wrong with that picture?
EVERYTHING!
Bradley will make up for the years of fighting the release of the bandana by thoroughly investigating any possible prosecutorial misconduct by Ken Anderson (his former bossman) and Mike Davis (practices law in WilCo and is the same guy Bradley refused to investigate for fraudulently billing the taxpayers of Williamson County just last year when he represented Don Higginbotham's sexual harassment case. Higginbotham is a former county court judge).
How can Bradley sleep at night?
Grits...I'm sure this has been analyzed somewhere but I can't find it. On what legal grounds did Bradley fight the DNA testing so vigorously for six years?
Again I bring up the fact that in Texas- and a lot of other states- judges and DA's are elected, not appointed. That makes them all politicians. They have a constituency to pander to, money to raise, a campaign to run. Their constituency is really the lawyers who will come before them, not the public at large. The people rarely have any clue about judicial or DA candidates. Remember back when that Yarborough guy won a seat on the Tx Supreme Court because his name was the same as a well like politician? He was not even a lawyer!
So maybe it's time we the people cleaned this mess up by making the system change. We must stop electing these positions. There are ways to do this that takes most of the politics out. The old formula praised in this matter was from Missouri, where a judge was appointed from a list submitted by interested and qualified parties, then had to be affirmed later in an election. There are other possibilities. We need to fix this broken justice system by making changes that simply lead to corruption. Is it not time for that?
Soorry, that last bit came out wrong. We need to make the changes that prevent the corruption we have now.
I don't believe we can trust DNA evidence.
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