Morton Official Misconduct

Official misconduct, a criminal offense that refers to the abuse or violation of power by government officials to incarcerate someone based on improper evidence within the criminal justice system, poses huge threats to fundamental principles of fairness, injustice, and integrity formed by our justice systems. In recent years, a program called “The Innocence Project” has worked hard to expose and rectify cases of wrongfully accused because of official misconduct, all to gain justice for wrongfully accused victims.

Abusing authority, and violating people's constitutional rights are the borders that define official misconduct, all factors that cause huge injustice to our rights and freedoms in Canada. Many cases prove that these unlawful officials

Morton’s defense attorney officially received the documents proving Morton’s innocence in the prosecution file that had previously been withheld at trial. The Innocence Project then decided to continue supporting this case, as it was clearly proved that severe misconduct had occurred during the course of this investigation. Acting on behalf of Michael Morton, the Texas Supreme Court authorized a Court of Inquiry to determine if Ken Anderson, the chief investigator of Morton’s investigation, had engaged in official misconduct in 1987, the time of the initial investigation. The Court of Inquiry determined there was reasonable suspicion that Mr. Anderson had broken the law, and his oath during Morton’s investigation, by withholding information and evidence from the defense. This resulted in Anderson being accused of criminal contempt and manipulating evidence to hide information that would have been used to defend Morton’s case. Ken Anderson also received ethics charges against him from the State Bar of Texas. In late 2013, Ken Anderson entered a plea to criminal control and agreed to serve a 10 day jail sentence, then resigned from his position as a district court judge and permanently surrendered his law license. Ken Anderson’s sentence was an adequate way of

By wrongfully accusing someone of a crime they didn’t commit, you punish them in an extremely impactful way, often altering their life for good, all because of something totally out of their control. As officials are more often than not trustworthy people, committing unlawful acts is extremely unexpected and can cause significant harm due to the unawareness, as well as the power they hold. In the case of Michael Morton, as a result of official misconduct, he wasted 25 years of his life, not only impacting his quality of life, but also the loved ones around him, particularly his son. To ensure Official Misconduct becomes an extremely rare occurrence, we must make officials aware of the extreme consequences and impacts they cause as a result of misconduct, causing them to think twice before performing such a crime. As well as ensuring officials work in a group of 2 or more to ensure all are kept accountable for their actions, and no evidence will be