Sunday, February 19, 2012

Michael Morton: Texas; Special court to look at former DA's role in wrongful prosecution. Reporter Chuck Lindell; American-Statesman;



STORY: "Special court will look at former DA's role in wrongful prosecution," by reporter Chuck Lindell, published in the Austin-American on February 16, 2012.

GIST: "A special court will examine whether Georgetown District Judge Ken Anderson acted improperly when, as Williamson County's district attorney in 1987, he prosecuted Michael Morton for a murder the authorities now acknowledge he did not commit. Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson convened a court of inquiry Thursday to examine allegations, leveled by Morton and his lawyers, that Anderson hid evidence that could have spared Morton from the murder conviction and almost 25 years in prison. Jefferson also appointed District Judge Louis Sturns of Fort Worth to conduct the court of inquiry, a rarely used feature of the Texas criminal code designed to determine whether state laws have been broken. "This is a historic moment for Texas justice," said John Raley, a Houston lawyer who has represented Morton for free for the past eight years. The court of inquiry was the latest in a series of extraordinary legal events that began last summer when DNA tests, conducted after a six-year court fight with current District Attorney John Bradley, pointed to another man as the killer of Morton's wife, Christine."

THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/special-court-will-look-at-former-das-role-2181333.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=6408887284438140301

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;