Cop BlockFormer Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was released on $7,500 bail for charges relating to violating state law and acting in contempt of court by lying to a trial judge. Anderson, who is now a state judge, purportedly lied to a trial judge in a murder case decades ago in order to secure a conviction. The convicted man, Michael Morton, served almost 25 years in prison before being exonerated. Anderson had intentionally concealed two items of evidence that would have helped prove Mr. Morton’s innocence.
District Judge Louis Sterns said of Anderson, “This court cannot think of a more intentionally harmful act than a prosecutor’s conscious choice to hide mitigating evidence so as to create an uneven playing field for a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence,”and ruled that there was probable cause to support the charges against Anderson.
Prior to issuing his ruling, Sturns apologized to Mr. Morton on behalf of the state’s judges, which hardly makes up for the 25 years of life Mr. Morton lost as the result of wrongful incarceration. Sturns also issued a show-cause order demanding Anderson to appear in court for a criminal contempt citation. Anderson could face a $500 fine and 6 months in prison if convicted.
Anderson will appeal on statute of limitations grounds (more here).
While it is horrifying enough that this kind of thing even occurred, equally concerning is the fact that a dishonest, immoral, and power hungry prosecutor eventually became a state judge. Decades passed before anyone discovered the gravity of his past actions and pursued punitive measures. One can only imagine how many other innocent people he was convicted, and what other misdeeds Anderson has engaged in as both prosecutor, and now a judge.
Of course, it may also be entirely due to happenstance that he was ever caught in the first place, and it is very possible there are prosecutors and/or judges like him in court systems all over the country who do the exact same thing, repeatedly, and get away with it.
Such is the inherent problem of perpetuating a justice system wherein people lack choices. The system as is is one in which people are forced to fund the “justice” system even when the judges are corrupt, the prosecutors are liars, and completely innocent people rot away most of their lives in prison.
It is no surprise that when people have no alternative, and must fund the current system, that the employees within are not responsive to consumer demands.
http://www.copblock.org/31003/former-da-jailed-for-hiding-evidence-to-secure-conviction/
I would have to say that there is not one DA or judge that has not with held evidence that would have found a innocent man guilty. This guy should be in prison for the rest of his life breaking rocks and making license plates some where bunking up with Big Bubba. This is what a DA`s job is – to get a conviction at all costs, no matter what.
This is another example of why I include ALL criminal (in)justice system workers, from cops to judges to prison employees, to be required to carry a professional malpractice insurance policy. There is no way that this former DA could possibly be personally worth enough to repay Mr. Morton for 25 years of his life lost in prison, but an insurance company could.
I recently re-watched the Robert De Niro re-make of the film Cape Fear, which is about a public defender withholding information that might have gotten his client off the hook for a rape. But the defendant in that case (De Niro) never denied that he had beaten and raped the woman, only that he should have been let off because she was a slut. This is classic behavior of a psychopath to never take blame or responsibility for their own actions. De Niro’s role is one of the best portrayals of a full-blown psychopath in film.
I think that that DA should have to do 25 years in prison and the people who elected this DA and allowed him to gain such power should pay $250 million to Michael Morton.
We the people are responsible for the fraud and tyranny we allow and indeed support through ignorance and lack of diligence.
Yesterday the county I live in had a special election with a proposal for a law enforcement/criminal justice system property tax levy on it. The levy lost (for the umpteenth time). We are effectively de-funding that system because we know it isn’t, and wouldn’t, work no matter how much money we threw at it. The cops, DA, and judges have only themselves to blame.
I agree with Henry that the DA should be punished severely. However, the people of his county, no matter how ignorant or lacking in diligence did not elect their DA to cheat on getting convictions against innocent citizens, nor did they have any way to know the real evidence in the case pointed toward that. So it would be better that the members of the criminal justice system themselves pay insurance premiums to cover the liability — then THEY would have a strong incentive to weed out corrupt members of the profession to keep their own premiums down. The DA in this case could not have pulled off this injustice by himself — he had the help of equally corrupt investigators who SHOULD have blown the whistle, and probably would have if they knew the injustice was eventually going to hit them in their own pocketbook.
If the people took their responsibility as the sovereigns of this nation seriously, they would know like I know that the courts have been taken over and that the DA would have to be corrupt or he would not be a part of that corrupt system. The people have allowed the situation which allows for the corruption. We are ultimately responsible for that which is done in our name and the people should pay.
As long as advancement in the District Attorney’s office is based on how many convictions a prosecutor can get, the wrongful convictions will continue. Ken Anderson’s withholding of evidence is not an isolated case. It is the norm rather than the exception. The one’s who get to the top in the DA’s office are the people who are willing to do anything, legal or not, to get convictions. And once one has a successful career as a prosecutor, the next step is to become a judge. Yes, the judicial system is filled with overly zealous prosecutors willing to do whatever to get convictions and who often later become judges. So, many sitting judges have at one time or another committed prosecutorial misconduct. It is a sick system indeed.