This is another case that proves the 'death penalty' is dangerous when mistakes are made.
Texan freed by DNA 25 years after wife's slaying
'Colors seem real bright to me now. Women are real good looking,' he says upon release
By WILL WEISSERT
updated 10/5/2011 9:11:15 AM ET
GEORGETOWN, Texas —
A Texas grocery store employee who spent nearly 25 years in prison in his wife's beating death walked free Tuesday after DNA tests showed another man was responsible. His attorneys say prosecutors and investigators kept evidence from the defense that would have helped acquit him at trial.
Michael Morton, 57, was convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life in prison for the August 1986 killing of his wife, Christine. Morton said he left her and the couple's 3-year-old son to head to work early the morning of the slaying, and maintained through the years that an intruder must have killed her.
Prosecutors had claimed Morton killed his wife in a fit of rage after she wouldn't have sex with him following a dinner celebrating his 32nd birthday.
Wearing a simple button-down shirt and a nervous smile, Morton hugged each of his half-dozen defense attorneys, then hugged his parents after District Judge Sid Harle said he was a free man.
"You do have my sympathies," Harle said. "You have my apologies. ... We do not have a perfect system of justice, but we have the best system of justice in the world."
Addressing reporters moments later, Morton struggled to hold back tears.
[color]"I thank God this wasn't a capital case. That I only had life because it gave these saints here at the Innocence Project time to do this," he said.[/color]
....
Bradley agreed Morton should be freed after the other man's DNA was tied to a similar slaying in January 1988 — after Morton was already in prison.
Harle signed an agreement Monday recommending that Morton's conviction be overturned. It was passed on to the state Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final ruling that could make Morton eligible for state compensation of $80,000 per year he was wrongfully imprisoned — about $2 million total.
Morton is not allowed to leave Texas until the Court of Criminal Appeals rules. Innocence Project co-founder Barry Sheck said that process usually takes at least a month but could take two or three.
for complete:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44784945/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
| 