Mail.com GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) — A former Texas prosecutor charged over a wrongful murder conviction agreed to a 10-day jail sentence Friday, accepting the punishment in front of the innocent man he helped put in prison for nearly 25 years.
Ken Anderson also will be disbarred and must serve 500 hours of community service as part of a sweeping deal that was expected to end all criminal and civil cases against the former district attorney, who was the face of the law in a tough-on-crime Texas county for 30 years.
Anderson, 61, never spoke in his return to the same Williamson County courthouse where he served as a judge for 11 years before resigning in September. Sitting behind Anderson in the gallery was Michael Morton, who was released from prison in 2011 after DNA evidence showed he didn’t beat his wife to death in 1986.
“It’s a good day,” said Morton, surrounded by family members. Asked if he felt satisfaction in watching the role reversal — Anderson at the defense table, waiting to be put behind bars — Morton took the high road.
“It was one of those necessary evils, or distasteful requirements that you have to do in life,” he said. Morton didn’t dwell on the length of the jail sentence, saying the punishment “or lack thereof” was as much as the legal system could dole out at this time.
Anderson entered a plea of no contest to contempt of court. The charge stemmed from a 1987 exchange when Anderson, then the Williamson County district attorney, was asked by a judge whether he had anything to offer that was favorable to Morton’s defense. He said no.
But among the evidence Morton’s attorneys claim was kept from them were statements from Morton’s then-3-year-old son, who witnessed the killing and said his father wasn’t responsible. There were also interviews with neighbors who told authorities they saw another man near the Morton home before the slaying.
Judge Kelly Moore said Friday the case against Anderson revealed a difficulty in determining justice. “There is no way that anything we can do here today can resolve the tragedy that occurred in these matters,” Moore said. “I’d like to say to Mr. Morton, the world is a better place because of you.”
Anderson must report to the Williamson County jail by Dec. 2. Morton’s attorneys acknowledged Anderson could serve as few as four days with good behavior and time already served. A judge had ordered Anderson’s arrest in April on the contempt and tampering charges.
He faced up to 10 years in prison if found guilty on the tampering charges, but prosecutors said statues of limitations made it a difficult conviction to pursue. Anderson has previously apologized to Morton for what he called failures in the system but has said he believes there was no misconduct.
Eric Nichols, Anderson’s attorney, made it a point to say in court Friday that his client “has not been convicted, and will not be convicted, of any criminal offense.” Morton’s attorneys announced afterward there will be an audit of all cases previously handled by Anderson to look for other alleged misconduct.
Since being freed, Morton has become a visible embodiment of problems in the legal system in Texas, which leads the nation in prisoners set free by DNA testing — 117 in the last 25 years. Earlier this year, the former Republican chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court urged lawmakers to act on the issue.
Morton was a regular presence at the Texas Capitol this spring and helped push through the Michael Morton Act, which helps compel prosecutors to share files with defense attorneys that can help defendants’ cases.
Morton said his only goal since being freed was to get Anderson off the bench and make sure he’ll never practice law again. Now that both have been accomplished, Morton said he didn’t know what’s next.
“It’s kind of like winning the Super Bowl. The next day is like, ‘Now what?’ Morton said. “We’ll see.”
Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Austin contributed to this report.
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
http://www.mail.com/news/us/2447896-ex-prosecutor-jail-wrongful-conviction.html#.7518-stage-hero1-10
Good to see you got out Mr. Morton. This district attorney should be rotting the rest of his pos life in maximum prison with the general prison population. It is the DA`s job to lock people up for as long as possible in what ever way possible. Just look at all the lives that the DA`s ruined all across the country by hiding the truths just to get a conviction of a person in the courts – innocent or not….. I hope Mr. Morton sues the crap out of that county. Just look at all those years he sat in prison for nothing. It seems to me that that county owes Mr. Morton one fat paycheck for loss of income and for being held against his will as a prisoner of the state.
Williamson county is an especially aggressive “stazi-police” county in Texas. it never ceases to amaze me of the outright greed/arrogance/ and hubris of these elected officials. they don’t even blink an eye for sending an innocent to jail for crimes not committed. this guy should be tarred and feathered and then run out of town on a rail.
I once dated a girl from Austin who had a hot check charge out of Williamson county. i elected to pay it and get her off the hot-seat. the investigator was all up in my business and interested in who i was/where i lived/ what my relation was to the person charged…etc. very wicked people in this county. if you can avoid traveling through there, do it by all means.
TEXAS!! Isn’t the state Beck claims is one step from Heaven??
The key to unlock the cage we all find ourselves in at this time is the judiciary. This branch of government was created, in part, to protect the people from the ambitions and excesses of the other branches of government. Nearly all important issues are ultimately determined in a courtroom. Citizens no longer have direct access to grand juries and find that their complaints are first filtered through the political office of the district attorney who will routinely refuse to prosecute anyone who is politically connected. Litigants are routinely denied standing or due process in the courts to frustrate those who seek justice from the state.
In Marbury v. Madison the supreme court ruled that an unconstitutional statute is void “ab initio” or from it’s inception. It reasonably follows that one of the first issues before any court should be the constitutionality of the law involved. Judges swear an oath to support and defend the constitution, within which is found your right to due process of law. Why is it that a denial of due process, the very definition of a void judgement, per Black’s 6th, never renders any judgement void or results in prosecution of the judge for perjury of his oath?
Judges are the gatekeepers of society. We depend upon them for redress and remedy. They have failed. In order to obtain remedy we must take back our courts by holding judges accountable.
“Jail For Judges” is a concept which creates an external review board to hear complaints of judges actions and negligence and to sanction judges up to and including imprisonment. When judges must choose between according due process to litigants and going to jail for failure to do so, that is when people will receive due process and not a minute before. When “Jail For Judges” becomes law in any single jurisdiction, i.e. any state of the union, a person need only move to that state long enough to establish residency in order to qualify to petition the court for vacation of a facially void judgement, which is the court record of a case which demonstrates a denial of due process.
People must qualify ballot initiatives to institute “Jail For Judges” and re-institute direct access for the public to grand juries to facilitate indictments against govt. actors who commit crimes. In this way the system may be used to purify itself and to return our country to a constitutionally restrained republic.
Ya know what Jim, untill the so called law is equally and fairly applied to all people then there is law, and untill then there is NO law….. It just goes to show that if you cannot afford a high buck lawyer you are screwed in the court rooms. Judges are crooked too but I`d have to say that those district attorneys are the biggest liers in that f`n court room…. Like I said above, untill the law is equally and fairly applied to ALL people, there is No law what so ever period….
Hi Mr. Nasium,
Although I understand your prespective on the neceassity for a functional judiciary,. allow me to make a fundamental correction to the underlying principle you outlined.
The key to unlock the cage we are in is not the judiciary.
The judiciary is suppose to ensure the chains of the constitution remain forever clasped on the government to restrain it in it’s overwhelming and insatiable compulsion to expand and become tyrannical,.. but what is suppose to keep the judiciary restrainted from deviating from that task?
It has been,.. and always will be,.. the “Free-Press”,.. which in political theory is described as the 4th Estate of gov’t (the first three being the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary),.. but in reality, and in practice,.. the “Free-Press” IS the first estate of gov’t!
Always has been,. always will be, and for simple reason:
When people are apprised of the criminal nature, criminal conduct and/or the simple failure of their gov’t to uphold it’s basic and fiduciary obligations, and such failures become common knowledge to the general populace,.. the ramifications are almost immediate, and widespread,… hence why the Corporate Mafia, the International Bankster, the quote “Elite”, made it their primary objective to get control of the “Free-Press” first,… all else second.
When there is no true “Free-Press”,.. the mechanism for tyranny is free to run rampant,.. as were are witnessing.
So in conjunction with your ostensible argument about the critical nature of the Judiciary is “responsible” to protect the Constitution or the rights of the people,.. this is incorrect. It is the job of the People to keep the gov’t in line,.. and the main, most effective method is to alert the populace whenever transgressions are committed by that gov’t, so that swift, and un-surpressable actions are demanded and executed by an informed populace,.. hence the primary necessity of the “Free-Press”,.. and exactly why we do not have one anymore.
Kill the institution of Free-Press,.. and you kill Liberty, Rights, and basic Freedoms,… guaranteed.
And so here we stand,.. on the eve of that very result being exacted upon an intentionally uninformed & deceived populace.
Respectfully submitted for your consideration.
JD – US Marines – If you want to fix all the problems of this country,.. all we need to do,.. is restore the “Free-Press”, the real Free-Press, that reports on the crimes of this gov’t,… then, all other corrective actions will follow shortly afterwards on their own.
The only way this would be fair is if someone there killed this POS during those 10 days.What a crock of shyt this is and a slap in the face to all of the law abiding citizens in this country! What would they do to you for the same thing? Prosecutors are some of the lowest scum in existence on the planet today!Politicians,bankers and child molesters are the bottom of the barrel followed by rapist.There is a known cure for all of them though!
“……….a 10-day jail sentence…….innocent man he helped put in prison for nearly 25 years.
Wow. THAT’S equitable.
The innocent does nearly 25 years, while the guilty does a WHOLE TEN DAYS!!!
What a load of cr@p!