Taking a Stand for the Michael Morton Act
Dear Friends,
We were proud to be at the Texas Legislature on Tuesday with our partners to testify against HB 3330, a bill that would roll back the Michael Morton Act.
Named after Michael Morton, a father who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife and spent nearly 25 years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, the Act passed in 2013 with widespread bipartisan support. It protects the innocent by requiring prosecutors to give defendants access to the evidence in their file.
During nearly three hours of extraordinary testimony on Tuesday, a wide coalition of exonerees, civic leaders, lawyers, and criminal justice experts testified about how the roll-back bill would put innocent people at risk and compromise the integrity of our criminal-legal system.
We are especially grateful to the incredible exonerees who joined us and lent their voices: Richard Miles, Anna Vasquez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, and Butch Martin, who together spent 74 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Thank you also to our friends and partners at the Innocence Project of Texas, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the Innocence Project, as well as the many others from all over the state who came together to ask the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence to reject this bill that would result in the incarceration of more innocent people.
The Michael Morton Act was a common-sense initiative to protect the innocent and uphold the constitutional rights of defendants. In a Republican-majority legislature, the Michael Morton Act passed both chambers unanimously and was signed by Governor Perry two days later, with Michael Morton himself standing by the Governor’s side. At the time, Governor Perry said, “This is a major victory for integrity and fairness in our judicial system. … We are known as a law and order state. With that tradition comes a very powerful responsibility to make sure our judicial process is transparent and is as open as humanly possible.”
In that spirit of transparency, the Michael Morton Act ensured that every defendant would have access to all the evidence relevant to his guilt or innocence. Prosecutorial misconduct, including withholding key exculpatory evidence, is a leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. Even when prosecutors don’t knowingly withhold exculpatory evidence, the State can suffer from tunnel vision, failing to recognize key information that may show someone’s innocence. The only way to effectively protect the innocent is to give the defendant access to the same information the prosecution has.
HB 3330 would eliminate this transparency and gut the Michael Morton Act to its core. Michael Morton’s case and the nearly 500 other exonerations we’ve had in the State of Texas were tragedies that didn’t need to happen. Our criminal justice system must focus on accuracy and integrity, not obtaining a conviction at all costs. We are optimistic that Texas legislators will stand up for justice this session and reject the Michael Morton roll-back bill.
With gratitude,
Burke Butler
Executive Director
Texas Defender Service
