Jail for a wrongful conviction
2013-11-09 05:53:16.651554+00 by Dan Lyke 1 comments
For the first time ever, a prosecutor will go to jail for wrongfully convicting an innocent man. For suppressing evidence that would have exonerated Michael Morton, who then spent 25 years in prison, Ken Anderson will give up his law license, perform 500 hours of community service, and spend 10 days in jail.
What's newsworthy and novel about today's plea is that a prosecutor was actually punished in a meaningful way for his transgressions.
Whether 500 hours and 10 days is a meaningful deterrent for other prosecutors who might be tempted to fudge the facts a little bit, or whether maybe in the ensuing 25 years that Anderson continued as a prosecutor and then as a judge similar decisions to get unethical convictions were made that will never be prosecuted, is left as an exercise for the reader.
But... baby steps.