DNA reveals holes in murder inquiries
Source: Agencies |
October 14, 2011, Friday
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CAITLIN Baker was three when her mother, Debra, was beaten to death and left naked in her bed in Austin, Texas, the United States. Although the pain of the loss has faded over 23 years, her anger that her mother's killer was never caught has not.
Less than two years before that January 1988 slaying, known to only a few until recently, the mother of another woman bludgeoned to death in bed during an attack at her home about 24 kilometers away told an investigator that her three-year-old grandson watched a "monster" do the killing, not his father, as police suspected.
She urged him to pursue other leads, but her daughter's husband, Michael Morton, was instead convicted of murder and sentenced to life.
New DNA testing linked the killings of Debra Baker and Christine Morton to another man with a prison record in several states. Police have not publicly identified the suspect, whom they are trying to find, but his genetic links to both slayings led to Morton's release from prison last week after nearly 25 years behind bars, and his formal exoneration by an appeals court on Wednesday.
But lawyers for the Innocence Project, a New York-based group that spent years fighting for DNA testing in Morton's case and the release of his police case files, say he would never have been convicted if the prosecutor in charge of the case had not withheld key evidence from the defense, including his mother-in-law's statements.
And if, as the lawyers contend, investigators disregarded and hid evidence that cast doubt on Morton's guilt, could they have more doggedly pursued leads that might have helped them prevent Baker's killing?
In filings in a Texas court, the Innocence Project has alleged misconduct by Ken Anderson, now a sitting judge in Williamson County just north of Austin, who was the county's district attorney at the time and prosecuted Morton's case. The charges could lead to the state bar taking disciplinary action against him, said Barry Scheck, the Innocence Project's co-founder.
Scheck added: "I think everybody can see how offensive this conduct is, if true. I am profoundly troubled by this, and determined to get answers."
Caitlin Baker said: "I would certainly hope that if it is true, there is some sort of consequence. But I do not have a lot of faith in the Williamson County justice system. They could not do it 25 years ago. Why would they do it now?"
Anderson did not respond to several requests to discuss the Morton case.
John Bradley, the current Williamson County district attorney, said the Innocence Project's charges "are just allegations. No one has offered any proof."
At the time, Morton told investigators his wife and son were fine when he left for work that day, and an intruder must have killed her. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence.
Less than two years before that January 1988 slaying, known to only a few until recently, the mother of another woman bludgeoned to death in bed during an attack at her home about 24 kilometers away told an investigator that her three-year-old grandson watched a "monster" do the killing, not his father, as police suspected.
She urged him to pursue other leads, but her daughter's husband, Michael Morton, was instead convicted of murder and sentenced to life.
New DNA testing linked the killings of Debra Baker and Christine Morton to another man with a prison record in several states. Police have not publicly identified the suspect, whom they are trying to find, but his genetic links to both slayings led to Morton's release from prison last week after nearly 25 years behind bars, and his formal exoneration by an appeals court on Wednesday.
But lawyers for the Innocence Project, a New York-based group that spent years fighting for DNA testing in Morton's case and the release of his police case files, say he would never have been convicted if the prosecutor in charge of the case had not withheld key evidence from the defense, including his mother-in-law's statements.
And if, as the lawyers contend, investigators disregarded and hid evidence that cast doubt on Morton's guilt, could they have more doggedly pursued leads that might have helped them prevent Baker's killing?
In filings in a Texas court, the Innocence Project has alleged misconduct by Ken Anderson, now a sitting judge in Williamson County just north of Austin, who was the county's district attorney at the time and prosecuted Morton's case. The charges could lead to the state bar taking disciplinary action against him, said Barry Scheck, the Innocence Project's co-founder.
Scheck added: "I think everybody can see how offensive this conduct is, if true. I am profoundly troubled by this, and determined to get answers."
Caitlin Baker said: "I would certainly hope that if it is true, there is some sort of consequence. But I do not have a lot of faith in the Williamson County justice system. They could not do it 25 years ago. Why would they do it now?"
Anderson did not respond to several requests to discuss the Morton case.
John Bradley, the current Williamson County district attorney, said the Innocence Project's charges "are just allegations. No one has offered any proof."
At the time, Morton told investigators his wife and son were fine when he left for work that day, and an intruder must have killed her. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence.
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