Morton Case is Focus of Williamson County DA Race
Michael Morton’s name isn’t on the ballot, and he isn’t endorsing anyone in what has become a nasty campaign to become the next district attorney in tough-on-crime Williamson County.
But his wrongful conviction is the central issue in the GOP primary fight between incumbent District Attorney John Bradley — who spent five years opposing DNA testing that ultimately exonerated Morton — and County Attorney Jana Duty.
While Morton may be staying out of the fray, many close to his case have decided to get involved, hoping, they say, to change the way justice is meted out in Williamson County ...
Comments (8)
Toby Marie Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
With all due respect to the Governor, he needs to stay out of contested primary races. He can't possibly understand the local politics, nor does it help him in the end. All it does is make the elected officials indebted to the Governor rather than to the local citizens. Furthermore: Does anyone locally really care about the endorsement?
Caitlin Baker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No. No we do not.
Phillip Baker
As he has done from the very first, John Bradley makes excuses for his actions. He claims he was not even a prosecutor when all this came down. Possibly true, but without a doubt he took his orders from Anderson once he came into that office. For all those years fighting to keep DNA testing from happening, the question is why. The tests would cost the state nothing at all. The results would either certify Mike Morton's guilt, exonerate him, or lie somewhere in the middle, which would not have helped Morton. So why did he fight it so long and hard? One suggestion is that he was acting to protect his mentor, Anderson. That would indicate Bradley knew a grave miscarriage of justice had happened, but his first worry was not to right that wrong but to protect his buds. He now says that Duty argued for his case in the courts. That, of course, is exactly what county lawyers do, no matter their personal feelings and beliefs. Bradley can no more criticize Duty for doing her job, than he can be criticized himself for doing the same thing. They're both lawyers, and that is what lawyers do. That makes Bradley's whining argument all that more false, and it makes him pathetic trying it.
Bradley has never done the simple decent human thing here- acknowledge the grievous injustice done to Morton, apologize for his part, and do what he could to make it right. Instead to this day he continues to ridicule Mike Morton in private conversations! Clearly Bradley does not have the moral foundation nor integrity to be fit to handle the power of a DA. Over and over he has shown that he sees the law as his own personal weapon, to wielded against any who oppose him.
I refuse to allow any of these Wilco politicians to deny any culpability in the events that followed Mike Morton's cruel injustice: Mark Norwood walked free because justice was deliberately and indifferently perverted in Wilco, and in 1988 brutally murdered Debra Masters Baker, wife, loving mother, best friend. Because of the rot in Williamson County's "justice"system, my family- especially my children- were put through unspeakable pain, suffering, and loss. No words suffice to describe these last 24 years. In my opinion, John Bradley has as much blood on his hands as the loathsome Ken Anderson. If either man had a shred of integrity and self-respect, they would have resigned their offices long since. Neither is fit to hold a law license and should be disbarred. That Anderson continues to act as a judge is vile beyond words. That Bradley still claims he is innocent of any involvement in all this is surely the greatest condemnation of the man and the truest measure of his failure as a man and a prosecutor.
Debbie Spencer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Anything Perry is for, I am against. I hope the citizens of Williamson County feel the same.
Phillip Baker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Phillip Baker
As he has done from the very first, John Bradley makes excuses for his actions. He claims he was not even a prosecutor when all this came down. Possibly true, but without a doubt he took his orders from Anderson once he came into that office a short while later. For all those years fighting to keep DNA testing from happening, the question is why. The tests would cost the state nothing at all. The results would either certify Mike Morton's guilt, exonerate him, or lie somewhere in the middle, which would not have helped Morton. So why did he fight it so long and hard? One suggestion is that he was acting to protect his mentor, Anderson. That would indicate Bradley knew a grave miscarriage of justice had happened, but his first worry was not to right that wrong but to protect his buds. He now says that Duty argued for his case in the courts. That, of course, is exactly what county lawyers do, no matter their personal feelings and beliefs. Bradley can no more criticize Duty for doing her job, than he can be criticized himself for doing the same thing. They're both lawyers, and that is what lawyers do. That makes Bradley's whining argument all that more false, and it makes him pathetic trying it.
Bradley has never done the simple decent human thing here- acknowledge the grievous injustice done to Morton, apologize for his part, and do what he could to make it right. Instead to this day he continues to ridicule Mike Morton in private conversations! Clearly Bradley does not have the moral foundation nor integrity to be fit to handle the power of a DA. Over and over he has shown that he sees the law as his own personal weapon, to wielded against any who oppose him.
I refuse to allow any of these Wilco politicians to deny any culpability in the events that followed Mike Morton's cruel injustice: Mark Norwood walked free because justice was deliberately and indifferently perverted in Wilco, and in 1988 brutally murdered Debra Masters Baker, wife, loving mother, best friend. Because of the rot in Williamson County's "justice"system, my family- especially my children- were put through unspeakable pain, suffering, and loss. No words suffice to describe these last 24 years. In my opinion, John Bradley has as much blood on his hands as the loathsome Ken Anderson. If either man had a shred of integrity and self-respect, they would have resigned their offices long since. Neither is fit to hold a law license and should be disbarred. That Anderson continues to act as a judge is vile beyond words. That Bradley still claims he is innocent of any involvement in all this is surely the greatest condemnation of the man and the truest measure of his failure as a man and a prosecutor.
visule
I hope the voters of Williamson county hold Bradley accountable for his part and retire him from public service.
Jim Vance
Perry appointed Bradley to replace Ken Anderson, who he appointed to fill John Carter's vacant judicial position after Carter's election to the US House of Representatives. Bradley was beholding to Perry from the get-go. The corrupt nest of cronyism in Williamson County political circles runs throughout the elected and appointed offices -- far deeper and higher than everyone from the Governor's office on down wants anyone to understand.
Jefferson David
Since DNA testing was not available at the time and the finger prints in the house don't match Norwoods, I think its unfair to say that anyone knowingly let a killer stay on the streets. Interestingly enough, if Bradly had allowed DNA testing back in 2005 there would not have been a hit on the DNA since Norwoods DNA was only entered into the database in 2006 or 2007.
But there are some real holes in the allegations against the original prostitution that need to be addressed. Sadly only a few reporter have actually done real reporting on this case. One of them found a interview from a local paper after the trial that Anderson has been talking about since last October but only one paper had the guts to print something that wasn't verbatim from Morton's lawyers.
Back in '87 Morton gave an interview where he said that his son told him about witnessing the killing. Here is a section from a article in the RR Leader:
"The stuff about my son witnessing my wife's murder, I didn't even [learn about] that until this year," Morton said Monday.
That statement, however, contradicts what Morton reportedly told a Hill Country News reporter shortly after his 1987 conviction.
According to a Feb. 26, 1987 story in that newspaper Morton told a reporter: "My son actually saw the murderer. He told me, my mother and a therapist, but that couldn't be admitted as evidence due to hearsay. There was also a bloody bandana found behind my house, but because my brother-in-law picked it up and destroyed the chain of evidence it wasn't allowed."
There is also the issue of the pretrial orders to turn over statements Michael made to the Sheriff without being read his rights. Scheck later twisted this into Anderson being ordered to give the Judge everything that was in the investigators files even though the defense lawyer specifically asked only for Morton's statements when trying to file a motion to suppress. They also claim that there was an issue with a stolen credit card. But there wasn't anything written on the secretary note about the stolen card that in any way relating to the case. Another interesting claim is the one about the real killer cashing a stolen check from a family member. Morton and his lawyers wrote that this was more proof that another person was involved, but when the Attorney General who is trying Norwood questioned him about it he all of a sudden remembered that he was the one that cashed it days after his wife's death. Its amazing what you'll say when perjury is on the line. All of these facts help illustrate the sloppiness of the Sheriffs office but its not something I'd in anyway call misconduct. It helps illistrate the ignorance of the media and the lengths some people will go to try and destroy other through the press.
Berry Scheck and his other questionable lawyers have lied about these issues in the case in order to garner headlines and incite emotional responses. He's the main reason OJ Simpson got off for murder. OJ's, Ron, and Nicoles blood were foud on his socks and a glove in OJ's house. But somehow Mr. Scheck somehow deceived the jury enough to believe that a raciest investigator was responsible for tainting the evidence and OJ walked. This is what he was paid over a million dollars to do. It's what allowed him to further his career at the expense of two life's. No one seems to care about the irony of this man leading the way to take down a sitting judge in order to further his career and grow his bank account even higher.
Mr. Baker would probably not want this information to be read by anyone since he feels that all the people involved are evil, vile humans. But there are some people who feel differently and continually ranting about how pathetic others are on comment boards go a long way to show how desperate he is to bury anything showing something other then what really happened.