Ex-prosecutor gets jail for wrongful conviction

I think it is very warped that the representatives of government see their job as convicting people, not finding the truth.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ex-prosecutor-gets-jail-wrongful-conviction

By PAUL J. WEBER
— Nov. 8, 2013

GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) — A former Texas prosecutor who won a conviction that sent an innocent man to prison for nearly 25 years agreed Friday to serve 10 days in jail and complete 500 hours of community service.

Ken Anderson also will be disbarred and fined $500 as part of a sweeping deal that was expected to end all criminal and civil cases against the embattled ex-district attorney, who presided for 30 years over Williamson County, an area north of Austin famous for being tough on crime.

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He faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted of tampering with evidence in the 1987 murder trial of Michael Morton, who wrongly spent nearly a quarter-century behind bars. Anderson was accused of concealing evidence that would have benefited Morton's defense.

"In a case like this, sometimes it's hard to say what meets the ends of justice and what doesn't," Judge Kelly G. Moore said. "There is no way that anything we can do here today can resolve the tragedy that occurred in these matters."

[My comment: This could be said about any crime, including the one Morton was accused of. It doesn't keep long sentences from being imposed on others for many years.]

Morton was released in 2011 after DNA evidence showed he didn't beat his wife to death. He watched Friday as the man who helped convict him now sat at the defense table, just as he once did.

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Since being freed from prison, Morton has become a visible embodiment of problems in the legal system in Texas, which leads the nation in prisoners set free by DNA testing — 117 in the last 25 years.

Morton was a regular presence at the Texas Capitol this spring and helped push through the Michael Morton Act, which helps compel prosecutors to share files with defense attorneys that can help defendants' cases.

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During a weeklong Court of Inquiry earlier this year, special prosecutor Rusty Hardin, a Houston defense attorney, presented witness testimony and other evidence to show Anderson kept evidence from Morton's attorneys at his trial.

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Among the evidence Morton's attorneys claim was kept from them were statements from Morton's then-3-year-old son, who witnessed the murder and said his father wasn't responsible, and interviews with neighbors who told authorities they saw a man park a green van close the Morton home and walk into a nearby wooded area before the slaying.

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