When there is a terrible miscarriage of justice, as there
was in the Michael Morton case, it is tempting to want to “put the wood” to
those responsible. While Judge Anderson maintains that “he committed no
wrongdoing in the prosecution” of Morton, he is either a complete idiot or he
is lying through his teeth.
I vote for the latter. I once represented a client in
front of Judge Anderson and to be honest, he was friendly, competent and fair
(he ruled in my client’s favor). I handled several cases in Georgetown
during the Anderson/Bradley era and generally it was like representing Jews in
Nazi Germany.
Years ago I was arguing with a young Brazos County Assistant
District Attorney who had recently arrived from Williamson County and I made a
kidding reference to “Hitler Youth” that he took strong exception to. In
time and I like to think at least in a small part to my influence (ha) he has
become a champion of justice.
District Attorneys have an enormous amount of power,
literally the power of life and death over the citizens in their
jurisdiction. That power can produce good results or terribly evil
results depending on who is wielding it. D.A.’s are charged not just with
obtaining convictions, but to see that justice is done.
Obviously that concept was not adhered to in this
case. I can’t count how many times I have heard prosecutors tell juries
to “send them (criminals) a message.” In this case the best way to send
them (prosecutors who are would be practitioners of evil) a message, would be
to give Judge Ken Anderson 10 years in prison (the maximum allowed under the
Statute).
Considering Mr. Morton was wrongfully held for 25 years that
would be a slap on the wrist.
-Phil
