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How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

cnn.com

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Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#3

Post by monsterix »

girvo wrote: post #2

The prosecutor should serve at least 25 years in jail for withholding key evidence and ruining this persons life. Christ these stories make me so upset. :/

I'm curious about what percentage of incarcerated population in the US is innocent. US holds roughly 2.3 MM inmates in its prisons, that's highest rate of incarceration[1] in the world. Wondering if there is a way to put a number, or guess the percentage of innocent civilians serving jail time at any given point of time.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rat...

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#5

Post by jwdunne »

Why is it possible for either side to withhold evidence? Why is all evidence not put on a table for both sides to dissect?

Genuine questions. Currently it seems like a competition. This isn't competitive ground, as much as I see lawyers essentially competing over number of clears/convictions. This is about people's lives!

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#6

Post by csmuk »

Re proesecutor: "He also agreed to a $500 fine, 500 hours of community service, and the loss of his law license, according to the Innocence Project, a legal clinic affiliated with Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law School."

Sorry not enough. This is one place that "an eye for an eye" should be used. Screw Ghandi's opinion on the subject. The guy was an asshole through and through who ruined two people's already ruined lives.

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#7

Post by ghshephard »

monsterix wrote: post #3
girvo wrote: post #2

The prosecutor should serve at least 25 years in jail for withholding key evidence and ruining this persons life. Christ these stories make me so upset. :/

I'm curious about what percentage of incarcerated population in the US is innocent . US holds roughly 2.3 MM inmates in its prisons, that's highest rate of incarceration[1] in the world. Wondering if there is a way to put a number, or guess the percentage of innocent civilians serving jail time at any given point of time. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rat...

I'm also curious as to how many innocent americans are executed.

Given the huge number of Prisoners who have been on death row and exonerated, there must have been quite a few in the past prior to technologies like DNA testing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution

Note - this doesn't even include those who were innocent, but not provably so.

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#8

Post by thaumasiotes »

marquis wrote: post #4

There is an excellent longform article on this. Heartbreaking. http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/innocent-man-part-one?full... http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/innocent-man-part-two?full...

> Their last meeting was so brief that Eric [Morton's son] and Marylee [Morton's wife's sister] barely sat down. Eric, who was fifteen, was unable to look Michael in the eye. “I don’t want to come here anymore,” he choked out.

I remember going with my parents (I was in high school) to see my grandfather and deal with the hospital -- he had been hospitalized for a reason I don't recall and they found that his mind was damaged to the point that they couldn't overlook it. He said hello, tried to make small talk: how are things, do you have a girlfriend, any interesting developments in your life. Small talk is not one of my skills. I had nothing to say; I very often have nothing to say. And he turned and started admonishing my parents for forcing me to come: "He doesn't want to be here. We live in different worlds."

It hurt, very badly. I was there because I wanted to be there.

I can't imagine, even after twelve years, telling your father that visiting him twice a year is a waste of your time. What a staggering blow. No matter what Marylee believed (clearly, in this case, that Morton was guilty), the decent thing to do would have been to not discuss it with his son.

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#9

Post by thaumasiotes »

jwdunne wrote: post #5

Why is it possible for either side to withhold evidence? Why is all evidence not put on a table for both sides to dissect? Genuine questions. Currently it seems like a competition. This isn't competitive ground, as much as I see lawyers essentially competing over number of clears/convictions. This is about people's lives!

Evidence isn't conjured into existence by the judge and then withheld by lawyers. It's discovered by the lawyers. It's not a logical possibility to prevent them from failing to bring it to everyone else's attention.

Re: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life

#10

Post by brazzy »

girvo wrote: post #2

The prosecutor should serve at least 25 years in jail for withholding key evidence and ruining this persons life. Christ these stories make me so upset. :/

Great. Now you know exactly how the jury felt when they ruined this persons life based on a complete lack of evidence that he committed a crime (never mind the withheld evidence against it).

Quoth the article: "We all felt so strongly that this was justice for Christine and that we were doing the right thing," says Mark Landrum, who was the jury foreman.

Righteous fury is the worst enemy of justice.

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