Ken Anderson, a former Williamson County, Texas District Attorney and current judge faces disciplinary action by the State Bar of Texas after charges were filed on October 24. Anderson is charged with withholding evidence in the trial of Michael Morton who spent nearly 25 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 1986 murder.
Anderson also still faces the court of inquiry mandated by the Texas Supreme Court earlier this year. The inquiry will hear the arguments of Morton’s legal team as well as Anderson’s defense.
According to an editorial in the Dallas Morning News, the Anderson case is similar to another case of misconduct, the Tulia drug busts of 1999, in which DA Terry McEachern failed to correct false testimony and failed to provide defense attorneys with helpful evidence. The State Bar of Texas ultimately gave McEachern a slap on the wrist with a probationary suspension of his law license, which did not interrupt his practice of law.
The editorial also advocates that Texas lawmakers act now to strengthen laws against prosecutorial misconduct since “dishonesty and willful violation of constitutional rights deserve more than a slap on the wrist.”
Read the editorial here.
