DA Agrees DNA Evidence Doesn't Support Morton's Guilt
Updated: 3 p.m.
GEORGETOWN — Michael Morton, who served 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife Christine, will be released after his attorneys reached an agreement with prosecutors, who agreed today in a legal filing that DNA evidence revealed Morton almost certainly was not the killer.
"Because new DNA evidence, previously unavailable at trial or at the time of Applicant’s prior writ applications through no fault of either party, indicates that someone other than Applicant committed the offense in this case, Applicant’s conviction should be set aside under the authority set forth above," Morton's ...
Comments (27)
Mary Morrison via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What a tragedy.
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Mary, yes it is.
Tom Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A rogue D.A. caused this grief.
Jody Hunsaker Haller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Unreal. Bradley should be thrown in jail for 25 years.
Lynda Blakeslee via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And why the death penalty continues to make me nervous...
Lynda Blakeslee via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This man has a 28 yr old son who has grown up believing his father killed his mother...guessing that relationship will be hard to mend...if at all.
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Thank goodness he wasn't given the death penalty, he'd be dead by now.
Chris Thornton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The DA didn't convict this man. The DA didn't sentence this man to life in prison. A Jury of 12 people did. Nobody ever said our Justice system was perfect.
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Chris, no, but it sounds like the DA sat on evidence that could have exonerated this man sooner. Why? Why did it take an appellate judge ordering him to turn over the materials for further testing? These are years this man will never get back, he has to put his life back together. There's imperfect justice, then there's injustice.
Shelia Enid Cheaney via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Lucky he is alive. Others were who were guilty were executed in Texas by Governor Perry.
Shelia Enid Cheaney via Texas Tribune on Facebook
NOT Guilty - see above
Tony Cardone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Chris, how is a jury expected to make the right decisions if they aren't given all the evidence?
Jalapeno Schwartz via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good thing he wasnt on death row! He'd be dead!
Thomas Prentice via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley should be arrested and tried for Treason by violating the Constitution of The United States.
Kimberly Maudine via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Shame on you John Bradley!!!!
Dale H Curry via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Too bad there John Bradley. Justice got served despite your interference. You are a discredit to the legal profession and should be STRIPED of your license to practice law. See you at re-election. POS
Judy Burns via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not the only miscarriage of justice in Bradley's career, but a bad one. I hope whatever lawsuits can be filed will be filed.
Michael Giberson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The further tragedy is that Gov. Perry appointed Bradley, the DA who withheld and fought to conceal evidence, to the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Dale H Curry via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@ Chris Thornton - Perhaps if you read the articles on this matter you would understand that this DA deliberately withheld evidence. Just as he did to cover up Perry's involvement in allowing Willingham to die though innocent. Bradley is an embarrassment to our state and the entire legal profession. He should be impeached, disbarred, and put in the very prisons he has sent so many before.
Jerry Chinagozi Okafor via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Why reply to Chris's ignorance? By the his profile pic you can already tell that he was probably one of those GOPer cheering Perry's record on death penalty.
Rodney Marsden via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I find it funny that Chris has a pic of Sam Houston on his profile. Houston was against Texas seceding and becoming part of the Confederacy!
A. Bryant
EVERY Death Row INMATE REQUESTING PROPER DNA TESTING SHOULD BE ALLOWED ! Are the men on Death Row and Polunsky Unit that are begging for DNA test for YEARS, being denied these test because it will make the District Attorney, Prosecuting Attorney, etc., etc., appear that they made a huge mistake? Or, are they affraid they will be caught making deals under the table or hiding evidence? i HAVE PROBLEMS WITH OUT UN-JUSTICE SYSTEM. It needs a complete over-haul!
Shef Rogers
When are you going to get rid of that evil fool John Bradley? Any idea how many innocent men he's railroaded ever since Perry appointed him?
Dennis Boyter
How many lives must be wasted or destroyed until men like Bradley are held accountable? How do you give a man back twenty-five years lost due to the arrogance of a DA and prosecutors? Will charges of Obstruction of Justice be brought up against Bradley? Disgusting!
john burg
I was on the grand jury that indicted Morton. The prosecution showed us all sorts of irrelevant "evidence" -- like a video which was a violent one -- to try to persuade us that Morton was guilty. The sheriff at the time was a funny guy who wore two belts (he was "traditionally built."
At the time I did not understand that the state could -- and would -- deliberately withhold evidence. I always hoped he would be found not guilty -- his actions did not -- to me -- indicate guilt. But there was enough cause to indict -- even though there were doubts.
I am very glad he has been vindicated. A lot of years lost!
William Leavenworth
Maine has no death penalty. A principal reason is this: In the 1870s, a man was hanged for killing his wife. He insisted on his innocence right up to the day before his execution, when he tried to commit suicide. He was hanged strapped to a chair, unconscious. A few years later a drifter was arrested in a southern state for a similar crime, and confessed to the murder in Maine, giving details that only the perpetrator could have known. So Maine had executed an innocent man and destroyed his family in the interest of blind vengeance, not justice. Nobody should be executed who has not been proven guilty by DNA and other scientifically verifiable evidence, unless they readily confess to the crime without any police pressure. Nobody should be sentenced to life without parole unless there is scientifically indisputable evidence to incriminate him.
A. Bryant
Chriss and effin wright... the District Attorney John Bradly and Atty. Anderson swayed the jury "by hinding the evidence and DNA" and letting the true murdered run free for 25 years! The State Bar needs to grow a pair and pop crooked prosecutors, D.A.'s and cops whose primary job is to insure justice is done...not to convict. Since DNA test, 274 inmates have been exonerated. There is one inmate on Death Row at the present time who has been there for 15 years and has been begging for proper DNA test to prove he is innocent. The problem...his attorney did not tell him he had to ask for the proper DNA before the trial - this is an embarassment to Texas. A DNA test does not cost that much compared to a 6 million dollar process of execution. I wonder why the D.A.'s and attorneys do not want the convicted to have the proper DNA test...could it be the fear of being caught in the wrong, a rushed conviction, money, position? Bradly and (now) Judge Anderson should spend 25 years at Polunsky Unit and be required to wear pink tights and pink panties for raping so many innocent people for gross miscarriage in our Un-Justice and Broken system which needs a complete over-haul.