STORY: "Court of Inquiry resumes April 19," 2013: Judge's ruling anticipated," by reporter "Brad Stutzman on April 14, 2013.
GIST: "A moment of
truth for district court judge Ken Anderson is expected to arrive April
19, when the court of inquiry investigating his alleged wrongdoing
reconvenes. At 1 p.m. at the county’s Justice Center in
Georgetown, Judge Louis Sturns is to hear closing arguments from
attorneys, as he considers whether Anderson – in his prior role as
district attorney – withheld evidence during Michael Morton’s 1987
murder trial. The judge has three issues to consider: whether Anderson
tampered with physical evidence, if he tampered with a government record
and/or he committed contempt of court. If Sturns rules Anderson
did any of these, it’s possible Anderson could face misdemeanor or
felony criminal charges, but Sturns would also have to rule statutes of
limitations have not passed.........Attorneys from the New York
City-based Innocence Project – which worked to free Michael Morton –
contend Anderson knew of information that would have been favorable to
Morton, but did not disclose it as they say he was legally required to
do. During February’s court proceedings Hardin introduced a court
transcript – displayed on an overhead video screen – from a Feb. 6, 1987
pretrial hearing. According to the transcript, trial Judge
William S. Lott (who is now deceased) said: “Mr. Anderson, do you have
anything [meaning evidence] that is favorable to the accused?” Anderson replied: “No, sir.” Anderson
and his attorneys contend Anderson violated neither the law nor an
order from Lott. They state that under the law, as it was written in
1987, he only had to turn over evidence that would have been admissible
in court. Therefore, they say, Anderson was not required to turn
over the transcript of a recorded telephone conversation between Michael
Morton’s mother-in-law, Rita Kirkpatrick, and Sgt. Don Wood of the
Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. Wood recorded the conversation and,
in addition to generating the transcript, wrote a report about it. In
that conversation Kirkpatrick tells Wood – who was lead investigator
into Christine Morton’s death – that the couple’s 3-year-old son, Eric,
told her he saw a “monster” hurt his mother."
The entire story can be found ta:
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/court-of-inquiry-resumes-april-19/nXKNc/
See "Senate passes Michael Morton Act," (intended to reduce wrongful convictions) by reporter Chuck Lindell, published in the Statesman on April 11, 2013.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/senate-passes-michael-morton-act/nXKR4/
Wikipedia report:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Morton_%28criminal_justice%29
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I
have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
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/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
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.
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