Texas Cop Wrongfully Convicts 3YO's Dad For Murder | The Case of The Morton Family
THE TODDLER IN THE ROAD
After a disturbing birthday party, this 3 year-old boy is found walking alone in the street, with a soiled diaper
This 3 year old boy is found walking alone in the street, with a soiled diaper. His parents are known to be good people, and would never let him out of their sight. Cops quickly discovered that his mom was brutally murdered. They think the husband did it, after they find a suspicious note on her dresser. Michael Morton is sentenced to life in prison. The problem is, the husband is innocent. And worse yet, the cops knew about it, and hid it for 25 years. But no one could have imagined that the truth would finally come from the only person who saw the real killer. The 3 year-old boy, who lost both his parents. He will come back, to take down his mother’s killer, and to save his own father.
THE HORROR INSIDE THE MASTER BEDROOM
North Austin, Texas. August 13th 1986. Early that morning, a man finds a 3 year old boy wandering alone, outside the Morton residence, at 9114 Hazelhurst Drive. When the man walks the boy back inside, he calls out for his mother Christine, but gets no answer. After searching through the house, the neighbours heads to the master bedroom and stumbles upon a horrific scene.
When Sheriff Jim Boutwell from Williamson County is called to the location, he finds Christine’s body hidden under a blanket, covered with a blue suitcase and a wicker basket. Upon removing the items, he sees Christine is no longer recognizable. She has been killed, with a large blunt object. After searching the rest of the house, he can see no sign of forced entry, no sign that anything has been stolen. It’s determined that Christine was not sexually assaulted, which has investigators puzzled. Until they find a note left on the dresser. It’s written by Christine’s husband Michael.
Later that day, Michael leaves work to go pick up his son at the daycare, but finds little Eric was never brought in. He calls home, to ask his wife what happened. To his surprise, it’s Sheriff Boutwell who answers the phone. He says nothing to Michael about what happened, and asks him to come home at once.
THE ARREST OF MICHAEL MORTON
September 25th, not long after Christine’s funeral, Michael is at home with Eric, when the doorbell rings. With his son in his arms he goes to answer. When he opens the door, he finds Sheriff Jim Boutwell, with several deputies. They’re here to arrest Michael.
One of the deputies grabs 3 year old Eric, and pulls him out of his father’s arms, while Sheriff Boutwell handcuffs Michael. All the while, Eric is screaming for his father, with his arms outstretched as he’s being taken away.
THE TRIAL BUILT ON A LIE
February 9th 1987, less than six months after the murder, Michael Morton’s trial begins. The prosecutor is district attorney Ken Anderson, who is known for being aggressive, sarcastic, and smart. For him, Christine’s murder trial is his biggest case yet. If he wins, it will propel his career. And he’s ready to do anything to put Michael in prison, even breaking the rules.
He begins his attack on Michael by focusing on the note found at the scene. It spoke of an argument the couple had the night before… about intercourse. However, the story Anderson sells to the jury, is that Michael wasn’t happy with Christine, and he wanted out of the marriage. And when she refused to have sex with him on his birthday, he killed Christine in a fit of rage.
When Michael takes the stand, the jury hears his side of the story, how Christine was alive when he left for work, where he clocked in at around 6am. According to his testimony, Christine must have been killed after he’d left.
He tells the court he wasn’t angry when he left the note, that it was meant as a playful banter with his wife. But the jury no longer believes him, after prosecutor Anderson brings his last witness to the stand.
Doctor Roberto Bayardo testifies under oath, that after examining Christine’s stomach contents, he estimates the time of death to be at around 1am, 4 hours before Michael testifies that he saw Christine alive, when he left for work. The defendant is devastated. With scientific proof against him, Michael’s alibi falls apart. And the jury is now sure to see him as guilty.
But what no one knows, is that in reality, Doctor Bayardo was unable to determine the time of death accurately, but Ken Anderson still used him as an expert witness, to give his damning testimony.
A FAMILY DESTROYED BY LIES
February 17th, the trial comes to an end. During the closing arguments, prosecutor Ken Anderson puts the final nail in the coffin. He fabricates a claim that Michael sexually assaulted Christine after the fact, while having no proof her real killer did anything of the sort. But it no longer matters, no one will contradict him now. As he describes the scene to the jury, Anderson has tears coming from his eyes. The performance is effective. It doesn’t take long for the jury to deliberate.
After the sentencing, Anderson tells the media a life sentence is too good for Michael Morton, and that he should’ve been given the death penalty.
As he’s escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs, Michael continues to claim his innocence. But no one believes him.
Ken Anderson has just put an innocent man in jail, for life. All the while, the real killer is still out there. Free to kill again.
As for Michael, he languishes in his cell. Year after year, he files for appeals, but is rejected every time. His only solace comes from the visits of his son Eric, whom he’s allowed to see once every six months. Because the visits are under court order, Eric needs his dad’s permission, to stop coming to see him in prison. Michael is heartbroken. All he wants, is to see his son one more time. District attorney Ken Anderson has convinced Christine’s family that Michael is guilty. So Eric, who is being raised by Christine’s sister, has been brought up to believe his father killed his mom. Michael knows the only way he can ever get him back, is to find a way to prove his innocence in court. Or he may never see him again.
JOHN RALEY & THE INNOCENCE PROJECT
It’s 2004. Michael has been in jail for the last 17 years, when he finally gets in contact with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that works to overturn wrongful convictions, through DNA testing. John Raley, a civil attorney who became known to the Project, because of a medical Malpractice case, agrees to take on what would be his first ever murder case. When he’s given the court documents from Michael’s trial, he immediately finds red flags. As he reads through the file, Raley is stunned, to find no real evidence of guilt. He also finds key issues with the statements made by the medical examiner. According to the records, Roberto Bayardo didn’t get access to Christine’s body until a few days after her murder, which would make any assessment of the exact time of death impossible.
John Raley is determined to find out the truth, about Christine Morton’s murder. His first step, is to go meet Michael in person. When he arrives at the Mark W. Michael Unit in East Texas, he’s taken to the family room, where Michael is waiting for him. John Raley doesn’t waste any time, and puts a team together. When they get their hands on the list of evidence still on file, they learn about a blue bandana with blood on it, which never made it into the actual trial. According to the 1986 investigation of the murder, one of the deputies saw a dirty bandana near a construction site, about one hundred yards from the house. To prove Michael’s innocence, Raley is hoping the bandana will contain Christine’s DNA, as well as her killer’s. In order to do the analysis, his team needs to get their hands on the actual evidence. But when they show up at the Sheriff’s department, they are denied access.A LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST POWERFUL OBSTRUCTION
John files a motion, which would force them to turn the evidence over. But by 2005, they still haven’t heard back from the district attorney’s office. So John decides to give him a call. It just so happens, John Bradley’s mentor, is none other than Ken Anderson, the prosecutor in Michael’s case. Anderson, has since been appointed district judge, and has made some powerful friends in Williamson county, but now, he’s become one of its most influential figures himself. If the DNA testing proves Michael is innocent, it would look terrible for Anderson. But more importantly, there’s something in the prosecutor files that Anderson doesn’t want anyone to see. John Bradley understands this, and he rejects Raley’s request. Michael’s life hangs in the balance, but Ken Anderson didn’t just take away his freedom, he also took away his son.
March 7th 2008, over three years after he filed his motion, John Raley has his first hearing in the case. He tells the judge about the bandana with blood on it, that it was never subjected to DNA testing. He also says the state has been blocking their efforts since day one. He hopes the judge will force them to hand over the evidence. But he has no idea, that district attorney John Bradley has already arranged for the judge to reject his request. And that his battle was lost before it began. In fact, John Bradley isn’t even at the hearing. Raley is furious. Right away he gets in his car, and heads off to go see Bradley at his office, which is in Georgetown, nearly 200 miles away
When he arrives in Bradley’s office, Raley’s blood is still boiling. And he does something completely out of character. A few days later, on a Saturday morning, John Raley gets a call he never expected. It’s Michael. And he has news. Michael has been in jail for 21 years. He has no idea where his son is. John Raley wouldn’t be surprised if, after all this time, he decides to take the deal. But admitting his guilt, would mean Michael would lose his son forever.
THE APPEALS COURT AND HIDDEN EVIDENCE
The year is 2010. John Raley has been fighting to free Michael Morton for six years, when they go in front of the Third Court of Appeals. While the court is deliberating, John Bradley takes to the media, in an attempt to sabotage their efforts. It will take months before they get the results back from the test. During that time, John Raley’s office sends a Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to Ken Anderson’s files on the trial. They wanna know, what else could John Bradley, and Ken Anderson want to hide. But the truth, is far more disturbing than Raley ever expected.
The investigation done in 1986 showed Michael should never have been the prime suspect. There was a footprint in the mud behind the home, that no one had ever done a plaster cast of. There were strange fingerprints on the sliding glass door, but no one had ever run those prints. There was a sighting of a strange man in a green van, in the days before the murder, in the same area where the blue bandana was found, and the man was seen walking into the woods behind Christine and Michael’s house. This information was concealed for 25 years. It was withheld from the defense, from the court, and from the jury. Ken Anderson knew that Michael was innocent, but he still sent him to prison for life, and let the monster who killed his wife go free, to kill again. Christine’s mother Rita was later told by detectives, that the man 3 year old Eric called the monster, was probably his dad. He just didn’t recognize him. As for Eric, he was so young when he witnessed his mother's murder, that he no longer remembered.
JUSTICE AFTER 25 YEARS IN HELL
June 2011. Michael has been in jail for 25 years. It’s been months since the evidence has been sent for DNA testing, and still no news. There’s a chance the bandana is a dead end, and they don’t find what they’re looking for. Still, Michael hopes. Until one day, he’s called to the family room, where John Raley is waiting for him… with a smile on his face. The DNA testing showed that the bandana with blood on it did contain Christine’s DNA. Along with the DNA of a man, that was NOT Michael. Then, the team ran the DNA results through the database, to see if it matched one of the millions of profiles already in the system.
When the truth finally comes out, that Michael Morton had been wrongfully convicted, District Judge Ken Anderson takes to the media, in an attempt to salvage the situation. What he doesn’t know, is that Debra Baker’s daughter, Caitlin, is in the crowd. Ken Anderson not only put an innocent man in jail for 25 years, he also allowed the real killer, to take Debra Baker’s life. After Mark Allen Norwood is arrested, and evidence of Michael’s innocence has come to light, Anderson becomes the subject of a special criminal inquiry, for deliberately hiding evidence from the court. And after a long battle led by Michael’s attorneys, John Raley and the innocence project, Ken Anderson is disbarred, disrobed, and for the crime of misconduct resulting in wrongful conviction, will become the prosecutor to ever be sent to jail. As for Norwood, he's convicted of the murders of Christine and Debra, and received two life sentences. While officials believe Norwood was most likely a serial killer, his reign of terror has finally come to an end.
After Michael’s release, John Raley arranged a special dinner for him, at his house. A dinner to which he also invited Michael’s son, Eric. After 25 years, father and son are finally brought back together.
