We all should celebrate the swift action of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to dismiss Michael Morton's 1987 conviction and life sentence for a murder he did not commit. That happened Wednesday, eight days after Morton walked out of a Texas prison, where he had spent nearly 25 years for killing his wife, Christine Morton. In the past few weeks, it has become abundantly clear to anyone paying attention that Morton did not commit that heinous crime in 1986. For the first time in his life, Michael Morton has no conviction over his head. It's a good day for justice, but that won't be fully realized until the system is held accountable for the misconduct or incompetence by the Williamson County legal system that put him in prison and kept him there.
Justice won't be served until there are answers. Morton through his lawyers has made that clear. He and the public are owed a full explanation of why the system broke down, given what has come to light in the past few weeks regarding evidence that prosecutors and law enforcement hid from Morton's attorneys that could have established his innocence. A motion filed by Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley might have buried chances of investigating the way his predecessor handled the case. Bradley filed a motion to expedite Morton's appeal. The practical effect of the motion would have closed the case — and with it any investigation into how it was handled.
Bradley wisely changed his mind Thursday and withdrew the motion. Clearly, Morton didn't want an expedited conclusion if that meant surrendering his day in court — his opportunity to have his claims of misconduct investigated by the courts. Morton was willing even to delay his release from prison to achieve that goal.
Allegations of misconduct focus on whether then-District Attorney Ken Anderson, now a district judge, improperly suppressed pretrial evidence that pointed to Morton's innocence. Defense lawyers also allege that sheriff's investigators ignored clues that could have identified Christine Morton's true killer.
Michael Morton's lawyers believed they had until Nov. 7 to complete an investigation under a deal made with Bradley because appellate court rulings do not become final until a mandate issued 25 days after a ruling is announced. So up to then, Morton's lawyers would have had an opportunity to question Anderson and others under oath.
But Bradley moved swiftly Wednesday to get the appeals court to expedite its opinion. At whatever point the opinion becomes final — next week or next month — all claims (including those alleging misconduct) become moot. On Thursday, Bradley did another turnaround and withdrew the motion.
Bradley's eleventh-hour conversion in the Morton case, from a district attorney who for years blocked DNA testing of evidence that ultimately revealed the truth to a prosecutor in a big hurry to help overturn a conviction by his predecessor, has given the public pause.
His motives are being questioned, given his role in keeping Morton in prison beyond the time he would have been there had Bradley cooperated instead of waging a legal fight to block DNA testing. A state district judge sided with Bradley, but thank goodness a higher court gave a green light for DNA testing.
As we said Sunday, the State Bar of Texas has the authority to examine whether Anderson engaged in misconduct, violated legal ethics or state law. This case demands that kind of accountability.
If the State Bar can't or won't police its own, then it's time to give that authority to some other entity.