Ken Anderson gets to have “Honorable” put before his name because of tradition, even in the caption of the probable cause order listing the offenses with which he is charged :
At the hands of the Honorable Ken Anderson, Michael Morton spent nearly 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Anderson was the prosecutor who put him there by concealing exculpatory evidence, and it wasn’t until DNA evidence exonerated Morton that Anderson’s fabulous life came crashing down.
Way down in the findings of fact, you come across this:
Read paragraph 42 again. Anderson does not believe, “as an attorney and former prosecutor,” in the release of Brady “if it may result in freeing an individual that he believes is guilty.” And the people of the Republic of Texas made this ignoramus a judge.42. Additionally, as Mr. Anderson explained during the Court of Inquiry, although Brady requires prosecutors to release exculpatory evidence to the defense, as an attorney and former prosecutor, he does not believe in the release of such evidence if it may result in freeing an individual that he believes is guilty. (RR 6:116:18-6:117:4 and RR 6:94:4-24).
43. Mr. Anderson consciously chose to impair the availability of the exculpatory evidence so that he could obtain the conviction of Mr. Morton for murder.
44. Thus, Mr. Anderson intended to prevent defense counsel from relying upon the Green Van Report and Kirkpatrick Transcript and his concealment of such evidence during the prosecution of Mr. Morton constitutes a violation of section 37.09 of the Texas Penal Code.
If this assertion was made by some layman wearing a tin foil hat, he would be ripped to shreds with the outrage and righteous indignity that his personal belief, no matter how psychotic or wrong, doesn’t control the law or the rights of another human being to due process, to fundamental fairness.
But this is a guy who wears a robe and gets to pretend he’s honorable. This is a guy they let sit on a bench in Texas and decide things that affect other people’s lives. And he has decided that Brady need only be honored when he wants to. When he wants to.
Anderson surrendered himself on this order and was swiftly released on $2,500 bail. Michael Morton spent nearly 25 years in prison. I will not put the word Honorable before Anderson’s name. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, honorable here.
H/T Grits for Breakfast and Spencer Neal
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He is, of course, the only prosecutor who has ever felt this way.
Black and white makes it different. Hardly unique, but definitely different.
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Yes, this Anderson clown must be the living embodiment of the term “true psychopath” . . .
How could one sleep at night knowing that you, with all the intent and purpose in the world, put an innocent man in jail for 25 years?? Like it was nothing; just another day at the orifice ?? . . .
May Anderson rot in hell for his deeds . . .
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It’s my understanding that he is not only remorseless, but proud of himself because he still believes that he was right.
I find myself surprisingly unsurprised at his lack of remorse. Some persecutors see themselves through “God glasses.” They are on the side of right, just, and the only thing protecting society from criminals. And they believe in what they do. Not in justice. In securing convictions. In being good enough to send someone to prison despite a lack of evidence. To beating a cocky defense attorney at trial.
There is no defending his actions, but I can see how this happens. Prosecutors like this are dangerous, and exist in most offices.
It reminds me of the quote: “We, as criminal defense lawyers, are forced to deal with some of the lowest people on earth, people who have no sense of right and wrong, people who will lie in court to get what they want, people who do not care who gets hurt in the process. It is our job–our sworn duty–as criminal defense lawyers, to protect our clients from those people.”
But is that not just what we hear from so many prosecutors and cops? Take the Central Park Joggers case; I saw the detectives quoted as saying something close to “Well, just because some other guy raped the vic does not mean they are not guilty, too. The rapist must have found her after they left…”
What is the maximum sentence Dishonorable Anderson could get? [?25 years…?]
And/or does this qualify as a {federal} civil rights case?
You think?
Believing is seeing, and some hold onto the myth that they have magical powers to know guilt, and justify whatever they do because of it.
But as Bennett notes, chances are nothing will happen to Anderson. Aside from whatever embarrassment this may bring, absolutely nothing.
Anderson in this case believes that if the prosecutor believes someone to be guilty, then they get to take on the roles of both judge and jury. Isn’t the point of prosecuting a criminal that you think that person is guilty? If you’re prosecuting someone you think is not guilty, then you’re doing something wrong. So really what he’s saying is in no instance, ever, should a prosecutor release exculpatory evidence (in spite of the law).
Point?
Seriously, it’s not necessarily correct that the prosecutor thinks a defendant is guilty. Sometimes, they’re directed to pursue a case by their superior. Sometimes, they have a doubt, but believe it best left to the judgment of a jury. Not every prosecutor is a defendant-hating, self-righteous scumbag, and some are truly people of integrity.