Michael Morton served 25 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. That is, unfortunately, not nearly as unusual as "Justice" would imply. What is very unusual is that the former District Attorney (now a County Judge) was ordered arrested for his role in the wrongful conviction:
Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was arrested and booked into jail and then released on bail Friday after a specially convened court found that he intentionally hid evidence to secure Michael Morton’s 1987 conviction for murder.
In a blunt and scathing ruling, District Judge Louis Sturns said Anderson acted to defraud the trial court and Morton’s defense lawyers, resulting in an innocent man serving almost 25 years in prison.
Link
More across the swirly thing...
Sturns told the standing-room-only courtroom that the evidence showed that Anderson improperly concealed two pieces of evidence that could have helped Morton fight the murder charge:
• The transcript of a police interview revealing that the Mortons’ 3-year-old son, Eric, witnessed the murder and said Michael Morton wasn’t home at the time.
• A police report about a suspicious man who had parked a green van near the Morton home and, on several occasions, walked into the wooded area behind the house.
Anderson also improperly concealed the documents from District Judge William Lott, who presided over Morton’s trial, Sturns said.
“Judge Lott specifically asked Mr. Anderson in open court whether the state had any evidence that was favorable to the accused,” Sturns said. “To which Anderson replied, ‘No, sir.’ ”
Anderson also disobeyed a court order to turn over the lead investigator’s notes and reports for Lott’s review, Sturns said. Instead, Anderson submitted a five-page report detailing the first day of investigation into the beating death of Christine Morton.
This type of behavior happens far more often than the average citizen realizes, with suborning perjury being probably the most frequent (and rarely punished) such transgression. At least this time it seems likely willful misconduct will not go entirely unpunished, but anything Anderson gets will pale to insignificance compared to the 25 years Michael Morton and his family lost.
On a tangentially related note, peruse the results of a simple Google Search for "Prosecutor Arrested". I think my favorite is the one who dropped a joint, in court...