EDITORIAL: "Former prosecutor's arrest step towards new era in Texas," published by the Longview News-Journal," on April 21, 2013.
GIST: "Prosecutors are not merely charged with locking up criminals. They’re charged with seeing that justice is done. That point has been made in many ways since Michael Morton was released from a Texas prison after serving 25 years for a murder he did not commit. And it was driven home forcefully Friday with a state district judge’s ruling that a former Williamson County district attorney acted improperly in Morton’s prosecution. In a courtroom packed with reporters, state senators, and Morton himself sitting in the front row, Texas took a step toward a new era in criminal justice. After apologizing to the wrongfully convicted man on behalf of the state and the Williamson County judiciary, Judge Louis Sturns issued his ruling. He said probable cause existed to find former prosecutor Ken Anderson — now a district judge — guilty of the three charges against him: criminal contempt of court, tampering with physical evidence and tampering with government records. He was booked into jail and later released on bond. “Mr. Anderson consciously chose to conceal the availability of the exculpatory evidence so he could convict Mr. Morton for murder,” Sturns said. “This court cannot think of a more intrinsically harmful act than a prosecutor’s intentional choice to hide evidence so as to convict a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence.” That life sentence was cut short when Morton, 58, was released from prison in late 2011 after DNA testing tied the murder of his wife to a known felon, Mark Norwood. A jury found him guilty of the crime earlier this year. Morton has said the goal of his crusade is not revenge — it’s bigger than that. “I don’t want Ken Anderson’s head on a stick, and that’s true, but the system is going to do what it’s going to do,” he said after Friday’s ruling. “We can’t change the past, but we can prevent this from happening again. Friday’s ruling is a step toward that goal."
The entire editorial can be found at:
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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.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
