Sometimes, the trust reads stranger than fiction.
Imagine coming home one day to find
your life completely transformed, irreversibly, touched by tragedy. Your wife has been found dead, savagely beaten
to death, in the comfort of the home that the two of you shared together.
Now, imagine the police questioning
you for hours and hours, and you assuming that they had their best intentions
in mind. You assume that they just want to ask questions to clarify matters,
and to eliminate you as a suspect. Now, imagine you sitting in a court room, as
the judge announces that you have been found guilty of the murder of your wife.
Imagine the first time that the cell door of the prison cell you will be
spending possibly the rest of your days slams shut for that first time. The
long and lonely night that follows, the period of adjustment to your new,
imprisoned life. Imagine the shame of being known to the world as a convicted
murderer, and imagine your spirits sinking further and further. You think
things cannot be worse, and yet, they get worse. You spend over two decades in
jail, and you find out that your own son has changed his last name, to have the
least association with you as possible. He is ashamed of you and, sitting here
on the wrong side of the prison bars, there is not a damn thing you can do
about all of this! You are powerless, and the world that considers you a
monster is trying their best for forget you, to bury you prematurely.
This is what actually happened to
Michael Morton in real life, way back in 1987. Almost twenty five years have
passed, and finally, Michael Morton's name has been cleared. It almost sounds
like a Hollywood movie, doesn't it?
The day before his wife was murdered
happened to have been his birthday. They went out together, had a good time.
Came home. Shared some cookies. Then his wife went to sleep. He had been hoping
for a happy ending, like any normal guy, and was extremely disappointed, like
any guy would have been. He wrote his wife a note about it, explaining that he
was not mad, but that he needed to voice his disappointment about what
happened. It was these words that he wrote that largely would convict him, and
force the next twenty plus years of his life to be spent locked up behind bars.
Of course, he contested it, but the
prosecution laughed at him, almost literally. It had seemed like an open and
shut case. The note seemed to provide the motive for the crime, and Mr. Morton
was presumed guilty. He was far and away the leading suspect, and the
prosecution was able to convince the jury quite easily that Michael Morton had,
in fact, killed his wife.
The only thing is that it was not
true, and the prosecution knew it. They conveniently left out any evidence that
would cast doubt, serious doubt, that
Michael was, in fact, the murderer. They did not include the fingerprints, that
did not match. They did not allow the jury to know about the account of a
neighbor, who had seen a suspicious individual driving around the house,
hovering, acing, waiting. They also ignored a bloody bandana found nearby that
would have showed that the husband was not apparently involved. It had his wife
Christine's blood and hair on it, but since it was not found on property, the
police dismissed it. A neighbor who found it turned it into the police, and
that might have put the thoroughness of the investigation into question. So it
was not permitted as evidence. Finally, they left out the similarities between
this murder and a similar one in the area in 1988 that would suggest striking
enough parallels that the same killer would be a real possibility. In fact, it
has been determined to have the been the work of the same killer.
Michael Morton kept petitioning to
try and get this evidence introduced into a court of law, in order to clear his
name and get his freedom back. But the prosecution responded with arrogance,
almost literally laughing at him, mocking him. They said they would allow this
evidence to be introduced once he admitted to committing the crime. It was a
paradox,. The years turned into decades.
Then, it happened. A Texas Court
suddenly demanded that this "new" evidence never previously
introduced now be permitted, and decades after the fact, Michael Morton's name
was finally cleared of the murder.
Williamson County District Attorney
James Bradley had long blocked this new evidence from being introduced, but now
claims he had done so with honest intentions. He offered a rather lame apology
in return for having gone a long way towards ruining this man's life for so
long, as well as that of family and friends. One wonders if there is not a case
to be made for prison time for the prosecution, who made a poor case by
withholding evidence back in 1988 during the trial, and who steadfastly refused
to introduce the new evidence, perhaps afraid of having such incompetence
exposed and thrown before the public eye. It almost reads like the "Shawshank
Redemption".
Michael Morton is now free, but he is
staying active with the "Innocence Project", a program designed to
help people in similar circumstances to him – wrongly convicted of crimes that
they did not commit, and trying desperately to introduce new evidence that
would clear their name back into court.
An incredible story, and unbelievable
resilience under obviously difficult and trying circumstances by Mr. Morton,
who's series of misfortunes are now fully recognized by the public that had once
condemned and tried largely to bury the man. Now, he is the poster child for
the failures of a flawed law enforcement and legal system that seem suddenly
riddled with holes, even gaping holes.
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