Michael Morton

Michael Wayne Morton (born August 12, 1954) is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011, and another man, Mark Alan Norwood, was convicted of the murder in 2013. The prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, was convicted of contempt of court for withholding evidence after the judge had ordered its release to the defense.

Early life, family and education Michael Morton was born August 12, 1954. His family resided in Waco, Texas, then towns in California before settling in Kilgore, Texas.

In 1976, while attending a psychology class at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, Morton met Christine Kirkpatrick, a Catholic woman from Houston, Texas. but it could not be safely attempted until he was three years old. Six weeks after their son's successful surgery, on August 12, 1986, Morton and his family celebrated Michael's birthday. at six o'clock in the morning, Christine Morton was beaten to death in her bed while Eric was present. He was convicted in February 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment. including an interview with three-year-old Eric Morton who explained he was at the scene and saw another man ("a monster") commit the crime and that Michael was not home.

After initially being held in the Williamson County Jail, Morton was held at several Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisons: the Diagnostic Unit in Huntsville, Wynne Unit in Huntsville,

Post-trial investigation, appeal work and exoneration Civil attorney John Raley of Houston, Texas, was working pro bono with Nina Morrison of the New York-based Innocence Project. Raley filed Morton's motion in February 2005 for DNA testing of a bloody bandana found near the crime scene

Raley and Morrison relentlessly sought a court order for DNA testing in state and federal courts until the testing was finally achieved in June 2011. DNA tests linked another man, Mark Alan Norwood, to Christine Morton's murder.

The Innocence Project had filed a motion to remove Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley from further court proceedings, but it stopped pursuing the motion. "Bradley was so convinced by new findings and evidence that he helped Morton's lawyers obtain the ruling that released Morton from prison", In September 2016, he was convicted in a separate case: the January 1988 murder of Debra Masters Baker in her Austin home. Both women were beaten to death in their beds under similar circumstances.

The same day as Morton's formal acquittal, Morton's attorneys (including Raley, Morrison, Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, and Gerald Goldstein and Cynthia Orr of San Antonio) asked Judge Harle to order a court of inquiry into the actions of Anderson, who was then a district judge in Williamson County. A court of inquiry is a special court that investigates allegations of misconduct by elected officials in Texas. A "a relatively rare and unique Texas procedure", it can have significant financial cost, with total costs borne by the county at almost $500,000. Morton had accused Anderson of failing to provide defense lawyers with exculpatory evidence indicating that another man might have killed Morton's wife, including information that his 3-year-old son witnessed the murder Other exculpatory evidence included: reports from neighbors seeing a man in a green van behind the Morton home around the time of Christine's murder; the transcript of an interview by Sgt. Wood of Rita Kirkpatrick, Morton's mother-in-law, stating that her three-year-old grandson Eric told her he saw a "a monster" — not his father — beat his mother to death; evidence that Christine's purse was stolen and her credit card and checkbook fraudulently used several days later; unidentified fingerprints in the Morton home; and an unidentified footprint in the backyard.

On February 20, 2012, Judge Harle asked the Texas Supreme Court to convene a court of inquiry, finding that there was evidence to support Morton's contention that Anderson had tampered with evidence and should have been held in contempt of court for not complying with the trial judge's order to let him review all possible exculpatory evidence. The court of inquiry was held in February 2013. Anderson responded by claiming immunity from any prosecution under the expiry of applicable statutes of limitation. On September 23, 2013, Anderson resigned from his position as district court judge.

On November 8, 2013, Anderson was found to be in contempt of court by 9th Judicial District Judge Kelly Moore. Anderson pleaded no contest to the charges as part of a plea bargain. After the plea agreement was announced, it was publicly revealed that Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty agreed to authorize an independent review of every case that Anderson ever prosecuted, along with every case in which Bradley successfully opposed DNA testing. Anderson was sentenced to 10 days in county jail, to begin no later than December 2, 2013. He received credit for one day he spent in jail in April 2013 (when he was arrested following the court of inquiry) and ultimately only served five days. He was fined $500 and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service. In exchange for having the charges of evidence tampering dropped, he agreed to relinquish his license to practice law. On November 15, 2013, Anderson was released from jail after having served five days of his 10-day sentence, released early after receiving credit for good behavior.

Later life After being released from prison, Morton lived with his parents in Liberty City, Texas, and later relocated to Kilgore, Texas. He was able to reconnect with his son, Eric, then 28 years old,

In 2013, Michael Morton married Cynthia May Chessman; they met at his church. and on Katie, the Katie Couric TV talk show, on November 13, 2012. The Morton case is the subject of a 2013 documentary film, An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, directed by Al Reinert. The film was featured on CNN Films December 8, 2013. Morton's memoir, Getting Life: An Innocent Man's 25-Year Journey from Prison to Peace, was released on July 8, 2014.