Michael Morton’s exoneration last year brought to a crescendo in Texas calls for change in the way that prosecutors are regulated. Morton and others discuss whether there is a need for more accountability for state lawyers and how it ought to be accomplished.
Brandi Grissom
Brandi Grissom worked at the Tribune from its launch in 2009 until 2014, rising to the rank of managing editor. In addition to editing duties, Grissom led the Tribune's coverage of criminal justice issues. During her tenure at the Tribune, she was chosen as a 2012 City University of New York Center on Media, Crime and Justice/H.F. Guggenheim Journalism Fellow and was a fellow at the 2012 Journalist Law School at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Grissom, along with Tribune multimedia producer Justin Dehn, received a 2012 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting for work on the case of Megan Winfrey, who was acquitted of murder in February 2013 after the Trib’s coverage brought statewide attention the case. Grissom joined the Tribune after four years at the El Paso Times, where she acted as a one-woman Capitol bureau. Grissom won the Associated Press Managing Editors First-Place Award in 2007 for using the Freedom of Information Act to report stories on a variety of government programs and entities, and the ACLU of Texas named her legislative reporter of the year in 2007 for her immigration reporting. She previously served as managing editor at The Daily Texan and has worked for the Alliance Times-Herald, the Taylor Daily Press, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung and The Associated Press. A native of Alliance, Neb., she has a degree in history from the University of Texas.
Posted inState Government
Seeking Solutions
Michael Morton’s 2011 exoneration brought to a crescendo calls for change in the way that prosecutors are regulated in Texas. Morton, prosecutors and criminal justice reform advocates talk about why prosecutorial errors happen and how they can be prevented.
Posted inState Government
In Wake of Wrongful Convictions, Calls for Accountability
Prosecutors have long enjoyed relative immunity for their mistakes. In the wake of Michael Morton’s case and other high-profile exonerations, many have joined his call for new laws to hold prosecutors accountable.
Posted inState Government
Son Seeks Answers, Accountability in Father’s Wrongful Conviction
Eric Olson was 3 years old when his mother was beaten to death in her bed. Six months after losing his mother, Eric lost his father, too, when a Williamson County jury convicted Michael Morton and sent him to prison for life.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Prosecutor Errors Haunt Long Exoneration Fight
Kerry Max Cook is battling with prosecutors to clear his name of a 1978 murder conviction, and says his mission is doomed if he must fight in Smith County. That’s where a court ruled misconduct had “tainted this entire matter from the outset.”
Posted in
Energy
Heated Arguments
While advocates worry particularly about heat conditions in a prison unit with recent water shortages, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering arguments in a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice alleging that the sweltering living quarters constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Nearly a Quarter of Overturned Convictions Involve Prosecutor Error
At least 86 Texans’ convictions were overturned between 1989 and 2011. A Tribune analysis finds that in nearly 25 percent of those cases, courts ruled that prosecutors made mistakes.
Posted inState Government
Mark Norwood’s Murder Trial to Be Moved From WilCo
A state district judge on Monday granted murder suspect Mark Norwood’s request to move his trial out of Williamson County, where his case has already received major media attention.
Posted inState Government
State Backs DNA Testing for Hank Skinner
Reversing its decade-long objection to testing that death row inmate Hank Skinner says could prove his innocence, the Texas Attorney General’s office on Friday filed an advisory with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals seeking to test DNA in the case.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
House Departures Take a Bite Out of Criminal Justice
For years they’ve been the Butch and Sundance of Texas criminal justice policy. Republican state Rep. Jerry Madden and Democrat state Sen. John Whitmire have helped lead a sea change in the adult and juvenile prison systems. But the team is breaking up.
