Michael Morton (criminal justice)

Michael Morton
Michael Morton at the LBJ Presidential Library
Born	(1954-08-12) August 12, 1954 (age 62)
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States
Known for	Miscarriage of justice
Criminal charge	Murder; 1987
Criminal penalty	Life
Criminal status	Released October 2011; Exonerated December 2011
Spouse(s)	Christine Morton, deceased; Cynthia May Chessman
Children	1

Michael Morton (born August 12, 1954) is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011; the prosecutor was convicted of contempt of court for withholding evidence after the judge had ordered its release to the defense.

Morton was arrested and charged with beating his wife to death in 1986. He was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison. Pro bono civil attorney John Raley of Houston, Texas, together with Nina Morrison of the New York based Innocence Project filed Morton's motion for DNA testing in February 2005. Raley and Morrison relentlessly sought a court order for DNA testing in state and federal courts until the testing was finally achieved in June, 2011. Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley "tenaciously fought" against DNA testing for six years before a judge finally ordered the tests.

Morton was freed on October 4, 2011 (and formally acquitted by Bexar County District Judge Sid Harle on December 19, 2011) after DNA tests linked another man, Mark Alan Norwood, to Christine Morton's murder. Norwood, a Bastrop dishwasher who lived in Austin in the mid-1980s, was charged and, on March 27, 2013, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1986 murder of Christine Morton. In September of 2016 he was convicted in a separate case for the 1988 murder of Debra Baker in her Austin home. Both women were beaten to death in their beds.

The Innocence Project subsequently filed a motion to remove Bradley from further court proceedings, but stopped pursuing it after Bradley agreed to dismiss the indictment against Morton, which allowed Morton to collect compensation. Under Texas law, he became eligible to receive a lump sum based on the number of years served in prison, plus a lifetime annuity of $80,000 per year, as well as job training and educational aid.

On November 16, 2011, Morton's original prosecutor, Ken Anderson, told reporters: "I want to formally apologize for the system's failure to Mr. Morton. In hindsight, the verdict was wrong." Baker's daughter said she was unmoved by Anderson's apology and held him partially responsible for her mother's death because he and investigators allowed a killer to escape detection by focusing so intently on Morton. "It's harder for me to hear him not holding himself accountable. He's not taking responsibility," she said.