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Did I miss a bit in this article - the innocently convicted man did 25 years. The prosecutor, knowing his innocence, withheld the evidence that allowed this con
by balabaster 11y ago
Did I miss a bit in this article - the innocently convicted man did 25 years. The prosecutor, knowing his innocence, withheld the evidence that allowed this conviction to pass but only did 500 hours (approx. 3 months) of community service and 10 days in prison.
An innocent man lost 25 years of his life and the man who caused this eventually, after a reasonably successful career lost what may as well equate to some vacation time...
Am I the only one who is horrified at this? Okay, so he got more than a slap on the wrist, but what the fuck is this?! That's bullshit! Pardon my linguistics, but my horror at this injustice leaves me short for words.
The only restitution that would make this even marginally okay is if the prosecutor/judge had been required to:
- House the convicted man.
- Set him up with training that would allow the convicted to re-integrate meaningfully into today's society.
- Assist the man to find meaningful and gainful employment.
- Set him up with a pension plan that would have been equivalent to see him through retirement.
- Set him up for success in the manner in which he would have been able to provide for himself had he been a free man.
- Feed him, clothe him and pay his utility bills until such a time as his income would allow him to successfully stand on his own two feet.
Even then, he owes this man 25 years of his service to make up for what was taken from him. If that bankrupts his accuser, so be it.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y agoPrepare to be twice as angry! /s Ken Anderson spent only five days in jail. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/ken-anderson-released-from-williamson-county-jail/nbtKN/ http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/ken-anderson-releas... >Am I the only one who is horrified at this? No.
- balabaster 11y agoI don't even know what to say about that... I'm speechless.
- bsenftner 11y agoI "love" how Huffpost frames this as "meaningful punishment" as if saying so makes that farce acceptable. I'm with the OP of this thread, that judge owes this man 25 years.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y agoAnderson is a real piece of work. He tried everything to fight Morton's appeals, his own sanction. It is also a huge embarrassment for the State Bar; since they previously awarded him "Prosecutor of the Year".
- balabaster 11y agoUgh! That smells just like the story of Rubin Carter - The Hurricane. Makes me sick that shit like this happens in this system of "justice."
- Jtsummers 11y ago> I "love" how Huffpost frames this as "meaningful punishment" The author frames it as meaningful punishment, and is the director of the Ohio Innocence Project. I'm not sure I totally agree, but compared to zero punishment in the past, this is a major improvement.
- Spoom 11y agoNot to mention that the only reason he's actually doing any time at all is because he plead guilty.
- balabaster 11y agofacepalm Is that because they threatened him with the death penalty if he didn't accept the plea? <irony />
- acveilleux 11y agoWorse, the only reason he was held in contempt is because the judge had to pro-actively order the evidence to be turned over.
- rayiner 11y agoThere is context here the article doesn't disclose. The prosecutor didn't "know" Morton was innocent. He failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, namely the fact that Morton's three year old son was at the scene and said his father wasn't home at the time of the murder.[1] It was undoubtedly unethical to withhold that. If there were doubts about the reliability of the child's testimony, that was the jury's call to make, not his. But not disclosing that statement is a far cry from prosecuting someone despite "knowing his innocence." [1] http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/press-releases/former-williamson-county-prosecutor-ken-anderson-enters-plea-to-contempt-for-misconduct-in-michael-mortonac-a-ac-s-wrongful-murder-conviction http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/pre... ("Anderson did not turn over a transcript of the victim’s mother telling an investigator that Morton’s 3-year-old son Eric had told her that Morton was not the attacker and other evidence pointing to a third party assailant.")
- Zigurd 11y agoYou are both ignoring the threats he made to extract a plea bargain, and the lack of serious consequences for prosecutorial misconduct. He acted like a thug, and should be sentenced like one. He ought to die in prison and see his family impoverished to compensate his victim.
- rbanffy 11y agoAgain, a man - and his son - lost 25 years of their lives because he failed to disclose evidence he had. The personal destruction he caused is unfathomable - imagine yourself, after having your spouse killed, thrown in jail for a crime you know you didn't commit, pleading guilty because you were convinced this would be the best for you and your child you'll most likely never see again. This is way beyond unethical. 10 days for ruining at least two lives?
- rayiner 11y agoThe original post said that Andersen prosecuted someone "knowing his innocence." But was that really Andersen's intent? Sometimes the exculpatory evidence can be clear-cut and you can conclude that the prosecutor knew the defendant was innocent and still went forward with the prosecution. Those cases merit very severe punishment. But here, the main piece of withheld evidence was a statement by the victim's mother about a statement by the victim's three-year old child. The statement itself was inadmissible hearsay. It should have been disclosed, but does failure to do so really rise to the level of malicious intent to prosecute someone Andersen "knew" to be innocent?
- analyst74 11y agoI imagine he'd also lose his job, and any career he had.
- Kinnard 11y agoI am also horrified.
- georgeportillo 11y agoI wholeheartedly agree.