TX Bar Sues Ex-Prosecutor For Withheld Evidence
By: CBS NEWS
Updated: October 20, 2012
.A year ago, DNA evidence cleared Morton and he was freed. Mark Alan Norwood, a known felon, was linked to the crime scene through testing.
A disciplinary panel for the state lawyers' association contends in a petition filed this month that Anderson, now a state district judge, knew about a memo, interview transcripts, and other documents, but didn't disclose them to Morton's lawyers. Morton and his original trial lawyers told "60 Minutes" that they never had full access to the police reports in the prosecutor's file until recently.
John Raley,a private attorney in Houston, told "60 Minutes" that many of the documents would have cast doubt on Morton's guilt. But he believed one of the documents -- in particular, a police report -- would have freed Morton.
In the document, Christine Morton 's mother told investigators that her grandson told her not only did a "monster" with a "big mustache" kill his mother, but that his father was no where near the scene.
"It was one of those moments where you almost faint. To hold in my hand a copy of a document that the district attorney at the time had and didn't tell anybody about it on the defense side... (It) would've proved that Michael Morton is innocent," he said.
Anderson was later named "prosecutor of the year" in Texas, and he became a district judge in 2002.
Anderson's attorney, Eric Nichols, said Friday he will challenge the lawsuit. He told "60 Minutes" that even if his client did withhold documents, there's no way they would have exonerated Michael anyway.
Possible penalties range from a public reprimand to disbarment.
