Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Defense Lawyers Pursue Texas Prosecutor after Exoneration

Michael Morton spent almost 25 years in a Texas prison for allegedly murdering his wife.  He was exonerated and now his legal team armed with court-given power not typically available to defense lawyers, have pried open investigative files and forced former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson to answer questions under oath and against his will, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University in White Plains, N.Y., and the author of several books on prosecutorial ethics, said several states have created innocence commissions to examine wrongful convictions in hopes of avoiding future mistakes.

But Gershman said he has heard of no similar post-exoneration investigations led by defense lawyers that seek to assign blame for a wrongful conviction."I just find this whole procedure extremely unusual," he told the American-Statesman.

On Dec. 19, Morton's lawyers will provide a written report of their findings to District Judge Sid Harle, who took over Morton's case in August. They  will conclude by asking Harle to take action against Anderson, though what type of action is something Morton's lawyers are keeping to themselves for the moment, reported the American-Statesman.

To read more:  http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/morton-lawyers-put-prosecution-on-defense-2017000.html








No comments:

Post a Comment