Grits must admit, I thought Judge Anderson would ride this out til the bitter end. He seemed to care little about the disgrace he brought to the office and has never admitted the least culpability in Michael Morton's false conviction. Perhaps his resignation tells us the man isn't completely shameless, or perhaps he was just backed into a corner.
MORE: See Texas Monthly's Pam Colloff's take, "Why Michael Morton's prosecutor finally resigned." Her piece concluded:
No one’s talking right now about what may, or may not, be going on behind the scenes. But on Wednesday, WilcoOnline.com posted a story—which has since disappeared—citing “unconfirmed sources” who said that Anderson has worked out a deal in which he would surrender his law license and spend ten days in jail in exchange for the dismissal of both the criminal and civil cases against him. No word on whether these “unconfirmed sources” are reliable or not.
Whatever happens, it’s an ignoble ending for the man who the Texas bar once named “Prosecutor of the Year.” Anderson, once a well-respected member of the community, had recently set his sights on obtaining an appointment to the Court of Criminal Appeals. Now, even if he somehow avoids standing trial, it may not be the end of his troubles. This week, state Senator Rodney Ellis told Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune that he hoped local officials would review additional cases that Anderson had prosecuted in the past to see if there had been other “miscarriages of justice.”
Or maybe he is ill.
ReplyDeleteOr has found God.
Or is running out of money.
Important point is that he is outta there.
You know, if I had used "cash" or "funds" rather than "money," that previous comment would have been a haiku.....
ReplyDeleteGood Riddance to that piece of !@#$%%^
ReplyDeleteAt an end his rule is and not short enough it was!
The guess here is that he's resigning to preserve his judicial retirement. Under the law, if a judge is impeached or forced out of office (which he likely would be if he was disbarred), he would have to forfeit his retirement.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Land-O-Loopholes folks. (Btw, I’ll probably be saying the same after the results of the fake State Bar of Texas side show.)
ReplyDeleteQ. can anyone name a time that the lawyers in this click disciplined lawyers in the click?
What else did we think he'd do after being advised to take advantage of one of them designed to keep the taxpayers' money coming in.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this will result in someone seeing the importance of creating a bill aimed specifically at Public Servants. To include those currently under Investigation, in custody and / or having pending court dates.
ReplyDeleteIn a nut shell version. 'Not' eligible to apply & collect -'Until' an official verdict or finding has been recorded. Guilty verdicts equaling to lifelong ban on applying for & collecting of taxpayer funded monies in any and all past, present & future formats. If and when any Investigation is performed and done via: public criminal court system and / or In-House, the entire process is to be recorded and made available for any & all freedom of information request. Might as well, include a mandatory Investigation into any & all properties or investments to vett any relationships not disclosed. *Add your input here...
Too easy?
The "inside" speculation I hear is that it was preservation of his pension that motivated his quitting. It certainly was not acceptance of any blame, since he has never accepted any nor expressed any remorse. It was "the system" that failed, don't you know. Personally I am not particularly bothered by the pension. His family is blameless in all this and shouldn't have to suffer for his misdeeds.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm waiting for is the State Bar's actions. Hate to seem like I'm "piling on", but he should not be allowed to quietly surrender his license. It should be publicly revoked, him officially disbarred to make the message to other DA's crystal clear that such corruption is not tolerated. My expectations of the State Bar are very low, though.
His family is blameless in all this and shouldn't have to suffer for his misdeeds.
ReplyDeleteHis family should not benefit from the money earned by a criminal.
Reminds me of Ken Lay's wife on why she should get to keep all of his money he earned thru fraud and deception.
Now Governor goodhair can appoint John Bradley to replace him.
ReplyDeleteHeard a piece involving Anderson saying how he understood Morton so much better now that he, Anderson, had undergone the same type of false accusations for the last 18 months. Shamelessness matched only by his cluelessness.
ReplyDeleteJust to be doubly sure that we do not get another black eye from this man's sense of right and wrong,.....I do hope that part of the plea is that he never be allowed to apply for bar reinstatement.
ReplyDeleteSurely not even he would stoop that low, but if "surely" counted, Michael Morton would have gotten a fair trial the first time.
Anderson sentenced me to 10 years tdcj for having sex w a 16 yr olg girl who admitted lying to me about her age...I was 24. Williamson county per sentence investigator Stan Harrison fraudulently reported the family wanted prison time but the ada confirmed that was a lie...Anderson tossed the psi until I violated probation by getting online. .he then used the psi he initially threw out to sentence me....Williamson county has long marched to their own drum...good riddance
ReplyDeleteThese judges ( all 3 ) have used the probation dept to milk the accused out of money then revoke and sentence. They will all get their due. Either by the system or
ReplyDeleteYesterday, 8 NOV 13, Anderson pled guilty to criminal contempt. His sentence? Forfeiture of law license, 500 hours of community service, 10 days in jail.
ReplyDeleteThat's 1 day in jail per every 29.6 months Morton served in prison, 35.5 minutes of comm. serv. for every month of Morton's sentence.
And, of course, Anderson gets to collect his pensions.
JUSTICE for ALL.
We could avoid most of this if we impose a psych exam on everyone applying to the bar and screen out all the sociopaths. This guy's got "sociopath" written/tattooed/ink-jet-printed all over him.
ReplyDelete