Prosecutor Points Finger at Lawyers Acting For Michael Morton of Underhanded Dealings

Two days ago, the prosecutor at Michael Morton’s criminal trial, former Williamson County Prosecutor Ken Anderson, filed his official brief in the formal court record where he claims that Mr. Morton’s attorneys have acted in a down and dirty manner in their accusations against Anderson.

According to Anderson’s brief, the Morton attorneys have lied, they’ve not been fully forthcoming with known facts, and they’ve spun their description of what is in the trial court transcripts and evidence filings. That’s right:  Morton’s DNA proved him innocent, and now Anderson is another victim of injustice.

Anderson is claiming that Morton’s lawyers zipped past the line of zealous representation into evildoing here, all in order to accuse Anderson, as the prosecutor, of holding back evidence that if introduced at trial might well have meant Morton, as an innocent man, would not have been unjustly incarcerated.

Judge Sid Harle and the Court of Inquiry

Ken Anderson didn’t throw the first punch here; his brief with its exhibits is filed in response to a report presented to the Honorable Sid Harle, a district court judge out of San Antonio who was appointed by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson to preside over The State of Texas v. Michael Morton.  The report was filed by Michael Morton’s lawyers, and within the report were allegations that Ken Anderson, while a Williamson County prosecutor in the Morton criminal trial, undertook actions that necessitate a Court of Inquiry under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

If Judge Harle goes forward with the inquiry, it will be a Major Big Deal – these things just don’t happen very often (read that EVER).  Experts are calling the fact that Morton’s even requesting the darn thing an “extraordinary legal event.”

As for what was hidden at trial and for which the Morton attorneys are requesting Harle to investigate the prosecution’s action, read our earlier post detailing the evidence that never made it to the criminal trial courtroom.   Smells real fishy, doesn’t it?

Gets worse: after Morton was freed, investigations into possible prosecutorial misconduct heated up and among other things, as reported to Judge Harle in the December 19, 2011, request for a formal inquiry, Ken Anderson reportedly did sneaky stuff like moving to bar Morton’s son from testifying at trial, and also taking steps to keep the defense from getting ahold of an investigator’s notes.

Read the entire Anderson brief online here.

As for the likelihood that this thing – this Court of Inquiry – is going to have a real life, check out Grits for Breakfast’s take on things.  One of Grits‘ good points — if a Texas judge and a Texas prosecutor can be having an affair during a murder trial and not get disciplined in any way for it, even the United States Supreme Court did nothing, then who’s taking bets on this case?

To recollect that love story, read our post here.

Houston Police Officer Shoots Man to Death on Christmas Night – Witnesses Tell Different Story From Official Police Version

In Houston, a news story is bubbling up about a Houston police officer that is on administrative leave while the Powers that Be investigate how and why Curtis Hampton — a veteran Houston cop, with 13 years on the force — shot a man to death on the side of the road on Christmas Night (December 26).   Seems that the man was speeding along in his car, crashed into another vehicle, and then plowed into a ditch.  The official report out of Houston is that there was a struggle between the man and the cop as the man was being escorted to the patrol car, and the gun was used because the officer “feared for his life.”

However, there were witnesses to the killing – people who initially became interested in what was happening because they heard the car crash – and they are reporting that the officer overreacted.  No big fight, no imminent threat of harm.

Corpus Christi Killing by Cop’s Gun Getting National Attention

The national news is monitoring a story out of Corpus Christi, where a police officer took his pistol and hunted down his common law wife – finding her huddling inside a closet at her mother’s home – shooting her to death.  Seems the officer was employed by the police department of Alice, Texas, and instead of going to work his shift that Monday morning, Jose Gonzales III opted to dress in his Alice Police Department uniform, arm himself both with Alice Police Department pistols and rifles and then start his trek to track down his estranged wife.  Leslie Morin was shot multiple times in front of her mother and her children by the Alice cop.

Then, Officer Gonzales went back home, taking his son with him.  Around an hour later, he was arrested without incident.

Last Night, Dallas Cop Shoots and Kills Passenger in Car

Here in Dallas, on December 28, 2011, a man was shot to death by a Dallas Police Officer as he sat in a car. According to the Dallas cop, the shooting was necessary because the passenger was reaching for a pistol, there in the car, so the police officer feared for his life and shot the passenger. Details are still coming out, but it seems that a neighbor called the cops because of a “suspicious vehicle” parked in the area, and when the police officer pulled up to check out the car, the shooting occurred.

Seems Mr. Cobos was arrested last Friday and charged with taking money in exchange for his approval of refinancing El Paso County debt (to the tune of $40,000,000), among other things.

Officially, Antonio Guillermo Cobos has been charged with 3 counts of conspiracy and fraud, each carrying 20 years imprisonment as their maximum punishment, in the case of  U.S. v. Cobos, filed as case no. 11-3019 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (El Paso Division) (Available online through PACER).

Early Friday morning, the feds were busy — not only was Cobos picked up, but three other prominent El Paso businessmen were also arrested as part of the same FBI sting operation.

This was not a big surprise to those in the know.

Seems that Tony Cobos’ chief of staff while he was on the bench, Texas lawyer Travis Ketner, already pled out on charges awhile back, and there are purportedly around 20 names in what has become known as the “Ketner Information,” which allegedly describes Cobos’ administration as being very interested in moonlighting for side profits from the bench.

After Ketner, the former El Paso District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez was indicted and convicted, for example.  Others are waiting for the other shoe to drop, like Tony Cabos was until last Friday.

Two New Texas Jails Investigations This Week

In Houston, Robert Gomez was arrested and jailed in Houston’s central jail on Riesner Street last Saturday night on a charge of public intoxication and sadly, took his own life by using his tee shirt as a means of hanging himself in his jail cell.  Gomez was allegedly “combative” with the cops on the ride downtown, so when he got there, the jailers put him in an individual cell.

Gomez had been checked out by jail medical staff before being put into his cell, and according to witnesses (which included prisoners in neighboring cells) Mr. Gomez tied his tee-shirts together and hung himself from the bars of his cell.

Right now, an autopsy has been ordered and the incident is being investigated by both the Homicide and Internal Affairs Divisions of the Houston Police Department.

Meanwhile, over in San Antonio, jailers gave Rene Palomo a “get out of jail free” card this week, after he had been sitting in the Bexar County Jail since March 2011, facing burglary and robbery charges.  Last Friday, Palomo was sentenced – he got 6 years on the burglary, and the robbery charge was dropped.  After being sentenced over at the courthouse, Palomo returned to the jail and within hours, he was given his walking papers.

By Friday night, Mr. Palomo was free.  No news as to when and how the jailers figured out that Mr. Palomo had been sentenced to six years incarceration, but someone did. Saturday afternoon, the cops pulled up to Palomo’s home there in San Antonio, and took him back to jail.   An investigation has begun into how Palomo got released by the Bexar County Jail.

Oh, and Texas prosecutors this week? Indictment Deadline Missed, Murder Suspect Must Be Freed

Well, over in Fort Bend County,  the District Attorney’s Office did not get an indictment by the ninety (90) day deadline set under Texas law in a case where a teenaged boy was murdered.  The suspect was arrested, name of Richard Mendoza, and he went to jail.  However, he had to be released because the deadline was missed. By the prosecutor.

Seems that the murder was unsolved until August of this year, when the victim’s bones were found in a field and DNA testing was performed.  As a result of the DNA testing, Mendoza was arrested and jailed.  Now, as a result of the prosecutor missing a basic deadline, Mendoza has been released.

The truth is that prosecutorial misconduct is a big, big problem.

It’s a huge problem here in Texas, and as we’ve learned this week in the Ray Gricar / Penn State scandal, it’s also a big problem in other parts of the country. (To read my post on Gricar’s failure to prosecute, go here).

This week, the Dallas Morning News published an editorial that we should all read and consider. Entitled “Editorial: How to curb rogue prosecutors,” four recent examples are given, where prosecutors closed their eyes and ears to justice and instead, messed with evidence — evidence that has now cleared convicted individuals, evidence that the state held even though that evidence might help the defense.

The four examples?

Michael Morton (read our earlier post here on Morton’s case).  Here, the district attorney held back evidence that pointed to another person as being the one who killed Morton’s wife as Morton was convicted and served 25 years in a Texas prison before legal battles succeeded in getting his release.

Anthony Graves, who served 18 years in a Texas prison – part of that on Texas Death Row – after the prosecutor jerked around with witness testimony to get Graves convicted for killing 6 people.  Graves was exonerated and freed last fall. This summer, Graves finally won his fight for restitution and received $1.4 million from the State of Texas.

Dale Lincoln Duke spent 14 years in a Texas prison after the prosecutor saw fit to hold back evidence which supported Duke’s defense against child abuse charges.  On November 4, 2011, a Dallas County Judge declared Duke innocent of all charges and Duke is eligible for $2 million in restitution.

Chelsea Richardson served time on Texas Death Row only to get the death penalty taken off the table (she’s still going to serve a life sentence) when appellate fights revealed that the prosecution did not share mitigating evidence with the defense that another defendant was the mastermind in the plot to kill the parents of Richardson’s boyfriend.

Think this is all?  Not by a long shot.

Consider the pending case of Hank Skinner (read the details in our earlier post).  Skinner is fighting for DNA testing of evidence that the prosecutors never saw fit to test which Skinner maintains will prove his innocence.  Skinner was set to be executed by the State of Texas last week, but Skinner was granted another stay — to argue for DNA testing, it still hasn’t happened yet.

Delma Banks had to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court before it was confirmed that prosecutors had suppressed evidence in her case (along with lots of other bad things) and she was freed.  Read about her case here.

Former Texas District Attorney  Stephanie McFarland got caught withholding evidence TWICE before things changed (read the details here).

Yolanda Madden spent four years in jail before it was confirmed that the prosecutor withheld evidence in her case: seems that it took a federal judge to grant Madden’s freedom.  Read the details here.

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means.  However, it does serve to demonstrate that district attorneys need to be viewed in a different light today – by criminal defense attorneys, by judges, by juries, by the public.

Take the time to count the years that people listed above wrongfully spent in jail, think about if that was your loved one:  things must change, and until they do, prosecutors should not be assumed to be working solely in the pursuit of justice.  Because all too often, they’re not.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

Right now, this Pennsylvania DA is talked about like he’s dead, maybe a good guy who got assassinated; assistant football coach Mike McQueary still has a job at Penn State; Penn State Head Football Coach Joe Paterno (“JoPa”) just got fired; and former defense coordinator Jerry Sandusky is facing child sex-abuse charges.

Tomorrow, lots of people will be watching what all this will mean when the Penn State Nittany Lions go up against Nebraska.  It’s going to be televised starting at noon EST on ESPN.

Seems there’s a move to get everyone to wear white to the game as a show of support for JoPa, who only lost his job after a growing public outcry.  How many will be wearing white at the game?  You gotta wonder.

Mike McQueary Put on Admin Leave Today for His Safety

Today, we know that Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary has been placed on administrative leave – not for wrongdoing, though, but for his safety.  Seems McQuery’s getting death threats.  Shocking, right?  Shocking that some folk may be very, very angry that the guy who witnessed a boy being sexually abused in a shower and then ran home to daddy rather than help that kid should be allowed to be on the field tomorrow.

What is all this about child abuse?  Read the Grand Jury testimony here. McQueary is the graduate student testifying regarding Victim 2.  We’ll also be very interested in Victim 6 testimony, but that’s in a bit.

Penn State University Apparently Still Doesn’t Get It – Or Do They?

Safety for McQueary.  Couple this with today’s latest news release from the Penn State powers that be, and you gotta wonder when these guys are going to snap.  Kids were hurt – and today’s statement from the Penn State Board of Trustees?  Get this, from their release:

We call upon all members of the University community to rededicate ourselves to ensuring the integrity of our institution.

Wo Nellie.  Their integrity?  Penn State’s reputation?  Really????

Here’s My Opinion On Ray Gricar- the Criminal Defense Lawyer Perspective

I want to explain the implications of what I’ve been reading about Pennsylvania prosecutor Ray Gricar — the district attorney that has been missing since 2005.  Here’s what I’m thinking, from my perspective as a Board Certified criminal defense attorney practicing criminal law for many years in Texas.

1.  Ray Gricar is no hero.

Ray Gricar was present for that Grand Jury and he’s hearing all that testimony.  Go read the Victim 6 testimony.  In it, Sandusky gave a confession, a CONFESSION.

Sandusky states to Victim 6′s mother — as overheard by State College Police Department Detective Ralph Ralston and University Police Detective Ronald Shreffler — that his genitals “maybe” touched the kid’s naked body as he, also naked, hugged the boy in the shower.  Sandusky to the mother: “I understand.  I was wrong.  I wish I could get forgiveness.  I know I won’t get it from you.  I wish I could die.”

Jerry Sandusky knew what he had done to those boys was wrong.  He said so.  This testimony is absolute proof of guilt.  Any wet behind the ears DA could have gotten a conviction with this evidence.

Ray Gricar wasn’t a newbie prosecutor.  Ray Gricar had this testimony, along with everything else you can read in that Grand Jury transcript, and he didn’t file a thing.

All this jabber about Gricar being his own man and going after justice, not being political: that is a bunch of hooey.  Read the six victim transcript. It’s blatantly obvious Gricar is no hero here.

2.  Ray Gricar Intentionally Didn’t Pursue This Prosecution

Media reports have DA Ray Gricar involved in the Sandusky child abuse investigation with Gricar having Jerry Sandusky setup by police in one victim’s house, where he spoke with the boy’s mother while the cops listened to the conversation.   As reported to the Grand Jury, Jerry Sandusky admitted in the presence of a police officer that he, in fact, showered with the child victim, which would corroborate the sexual abuse allegation. He also admitted that what he did was wrong.

So, cops have the evidence and they take it back to the DA.  Think about Law and Order on TV: the cop part of the show is done, and now the story flips to the attorney part.

Well, here District Attorney Ray Gricar declined to prosecute Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky for a lack of evidence. Gricar is telling people that he doesn’t have enough to go forward.

Look, I’m an experienced criminal defense attorney: usually having a prosecutor say words like this is music to my ears.  Not here.  This is very, very strange based on my experience. Read that transcript again: Gricar doesn’t have enough evidence?  Bull.

3.  Gricar Disappears in 2005 – So Where is He?

Next thing you know, District Attorney Ray Gricar has disappeared from the face of the earth. No body has ever been found.  From the NCAA site, we know that his car was found abandoned 50 miles away from his home; his laptop, wallet, and keys were missing; and there was a search on the home computer, “how to wreck a hard drive.”

His personal computer – a laptop that Gricar was supposed to return to the District Attorney’s Office as he was about to retire – was found in a local river, but its hard drive was long gone.  Guts of that laptop had been apparently removed.

In my opinion, it seems like Gricar deep-sixed the sex investigation to protect Penn State, and has since disappeared. But that doesn’t mean he’s dead.

FBI Reports Ray Gricar is Missing, Not Dead

If you visit the Federal Bureau of Investigation site, you will find what the federal government thinks about this case.  Pennsylvania district attorney Ray Gricar is listed as MISSING.  He’s known to have not one but two alias:  Ray Gray and Ray Lange.

Ray Gricar even has his own Wanted poster (pdf downloadable here).

4.  Meanwhile, Police Close the Case on Gricar – After Checking With Psychics

Now, what about the local police up near Penn State?  What have they done to find Ray Gricar?  Well, we know one thing:  they’ve checked leads given to them by psychics and shockingly, that didn’t get them anywhere.

Watch this YouTube video, complete with spooky psychics and law enforcement interviews on a case gone cold.

Apparently, this was enough for the local powers that be:  a local county judge declared Ray Gricar to be presumed dead in July 2011 at the request of his daughter.  (The FBI Missing Persons list remains current.)

5.  In My Opinion, Ray Gricar Is Alive and Well and We All Need to “Amber Alert” Him

The FBI has Gricar as missing.  The New York Times is reporting on how lots of other folk think he’s still alive and kicking.  I do, too.

I think we all need to be on the lookout for Ray Gricar or Ray Lange or Ray Gray … because this is the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct I’ve seen.  Justice served?  The injustice of this entire Penn State scandal angers and sickens me, and Ray Gricar’s job was to fight for those boys.  From what we have as facts right now, we know he didn’t do it.

These Driver Responsibility Surcharges are VERY EXPENSIVE.  The new law has been the law of the land for 39 days already, and yet something fishy is going on.  VERY FISHY.

First, consider how expensive these Driver Responsibility Surcharges are.  Back in April 2010, we discussed the cost of DWI Surcharges.  From that post:

Right now, Texas drivers convicted of DWI (driving while intoxicated) as well as a couple of other violations (driving without a driver’s license, or one that’s invalid; as well as driving without insurance) must pay automatic surcharges every year, for three years from the date of conviction.

And it isn’t cheap: for a DWI conviction, the surcharge is $1,000 a year for three years for a first conviction; $1,500 a year for the second; and $2,000 a year for any conviction with a blood-alcohol content of 0.16 or greater. That’s big money, right?

People Aren’t Paying the Surcharges

It’s not news to those involved in DWI work that people aren’t paying these surcharges. However, everyone may not know that state-wide, over $1 billion hasn’t been paid. One billion dollars in unpaid surcharges – no wonder they’re having some hearings down in Austin.

Next, consider what’s been happening since September 1st.   Apparently, not much.

Seems that the Texas Department of Public Safety hasn’t been following the new law – and Grits for Breakfast has the emails to prove it. Our fellow blogger (in a blog we recommend you follow, see the sidebar), a non-lawyer mind you, wrote the state agency to check into how things were doing with the change on Surcharges and what he got back in email has been published online.

DPS, bottom line, has no “…estimated date for implementation…” and isn’t doing a darn thing about complying with the new law.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that the new law isn’t effective.  It just means that the Department of Public Safety is dragging its heels on waiving those surcharges.  You are entitled to the waiver if you meet the law’s requirements – period.   You don’t need to file a special pleading anywhere.

Still, here’s the reality:

1.  someone is still going to get surcharge notices from DPS regardless of the new law;

2. the DPS records are still going to show a lot of folk responsible for paying money that the new law says they don’t owe;

3.  someone pulled over by a police officer (for speeding, no turn signal, whatever) is still going to have a fight on their hands when the cop runs their Texas Driver’s License number through DPS records and gets notified that the driver owes surcharges — which is not true under the new law; and

4.  some legal fees are going to have to be paid by folk to get a Court Order signed by a judge that confirms that they don’t owe the surcharge just to win a fight with DPS that shouldn’t be necessary … if DPS would just follow current Texas law.

Soft Taco Smuggling of a Hacksaw Blade

So what happened to let this 31-year-old jail guard go from guarding inmates to becoming an inmate? He smuggled a hacksaw blade into an inmate at the Bexar County Detention Center inside a soft taco.

That’s right: a blade inside a taco instead of the proverbial blade inside a cake.

Seems that the jail guard had a back pain problem and wasn’t able to get enough pain pills to deal with it, so he made a deal with the inmate to exchange Xanax pills for stuff – like the saw blades. The inmate’s girlfriend testified that she met the guard in the jail parking lot and handed over the tacos, telling him that the blades were hidden inside the food. She would also be the one who would provide the Xanax medication to the guard as his payment for bringing the tacos to the inmate.

Makes National and International News – More Help for Texas’ Reputation

Maybe it was the taco part of the story that did it, maybe it was the hacksaw…but this story has made not only the national news coverage, it has gone global. (Read Great Britain’s Daily Mail story about the verdict here.)

Newspapers around the world are reporting to their readers all about the Texas jail guard who was busted for a taco – more good media coverage for our fair state.

Quite the story, the finding of a mass grave site, and within minutes it seemed the national media were close on the heels of the police officers, heading down to Liberty County, Texas, expecting to find a gruesome and very big news story.

Except there was nothing there and it turns out that all this energy had been expended on a tip the local cops got from a psychic.  Yes, that’s right: a psychic.

Maybe you remember the “breaking news” stories and Twitter trends back on June 7, 2011, when all of a sudden, all sorts of law enforcement officials were racing to a ranch house outside of Hardin, Texas, because it was said to be the site were dozens of bodies had been buried. There were flashing lights and sirens and helicopters. Flustered, excited news reports. It was a Big Deal.

Psychic Egg on Their Faces

Problem was, there weren’t any bodies to be found. Zip. Nada. So, picture all those official folk on a hot June day in Texas, standing under the oak trees in the farmhouse’s front yard, taking off their hats to wipe their brows and ask each other what the heck happened here.

Truth will out and soon, there it was for all the nation to chuckle about: seems all this activity was started by a tip to the local sheriff’s department by a woman who said was a psychic. Well, she did know something about the interior of the home ….and to be fair, there was the smell of decomp (turned out to be meat rotting in a broken freezer) and some blood (fisticuffs from a couple weeks back between two drunks).

The British press labeled it the “wierdest news story of the year so far.” More great press for Texas.

Today, we’ve learned that the psychic isn’t going to be charged with any crime. Seems the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department (the ones who took her call) has determined that since the psychic did not act with malice or criminal intent, she won’t be arrested for anything.

However, it’s probably safe to say that the next time that the Liberty County Sheriff calls the FBI or the Texas Rangers for help, there’s gonna be lots of questions asked before anyone jumps into their vehicle to rush down to Hardin, Texas, again.

No need for a psychic to predict that one.

Texas Medical Board Clears Dr. Paul Shrode and Closes Their Investigation Into Former El Paso Medical Examiner

The El Paso County Commissioners thought they’d been had: they terminated Dr. Shrode based upon the expose.  However, the Texas Medical Board didn’t see things the same way and last Friday, they dismissed their investigation into Dr. Paul Shrode finding that:

“there was sufficient proof that Dr. Shrode was qualified for the position of medical examiner, that he had not advertised his credentials in the public domain, and that he had been subject to a thorough pre-employment interview and questioning of his credentials.”

What about his resume?

In the 2007 expose, ABC-7 reported that the medical examiner had given county officials a résumé with two big errors:

1. it listed a 1979 law degree from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos (School of Political Science); however, STWSU did not offer law degrees and only began offering a paralegal certification in 1980.
2. it listed past job experience as Lubbock’s County Medical Examiner; however, the actual experience was as an employee of Texas Tech University where the doctor did some autopsies.

Will This Stop Defense Attorneys From Calling Foul on Dr. Paul Shrode’s Past Rulings in Criminal Cases?  No.

As the Chief Medical Examiner for El Paso, Dr. Paul Shrode gave testimony in case after case in criminal matters involving bodies — in other words, serious felony matters, usually involving allegations of homicide.  Some of these cases had prosecutors seeking the death penalty — and Dr. Shrode would take the stand as the Top Forensic Guy in the County and give his opinion.

Now that Dr. Shrode’s education and experience have been shown not to be what he presented in those court cases, it should come as no surprise to anyone that criminal defense attorneys are shocked, outraged, and of the opinion that every case this man was involved in should be reviewed. The Ohio Parole Board obviously agreed: they recommended clemency for a man sitting on Ohio’s Death Row after discovering that Dr. Paul Shrode was the medical examiner who gave testimony in his trial.

So, will last Friday’s ruling by the Texas Medical Board stop these challenges?  Should it?

Defense attorneys are still going to challenge Dr. Shrode’s testimony and opinion even with the Texas Medical Board’s ruling.  If we can’t trust the guy’s resume, then how can we trust any opinion he provides?