On May 16, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill known as the ​“Michael Morton Act” that will require pros­e­cu­tors to open their files to defen­dants and keep records of the evi­dence they dis­close. The Act is named for Michael Morton (pic­tured), who was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to life in prison in 1987. He was exon­er­at­ed in 2011 after DNA evi­dence revealed that some­one else had mur­dered his wife. Morton’s lawyers dis­cov­ered that the orig­i­nal pros­e­cu­tor had with­held evi­dence that could have proven Morton’s inno­cence. The U.S. Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Brady v. Maryland (1963) already requires pros­e­cu­tors to hand over to defen­dants any evi­dence that is ​“mate­r­i­al either to guilt or to pun­ish­ment,” but Texas’ new law requires dis­clo­sure of all police reports and wit­ness state­ments, regard­less of whether the evi­dence is mate­r­i­al to guilt or pun­ish­ment. Kathryn Kase, Executive Director of the Texas Defender Service, which rep­re­sents death row inmates, said, ​“This is a great day for fair­ness in Texas. The Michael Morton Act will reduce wrong­ful con­vic­tions; it is some­thing we can all be very proud of.” Twelve inmates have been exon­er­at­ed and freed from Texas’ death row since 1973.

(B. Grissom, ​“Perry Signs Michael Morton Act,” Texas Tribune, May 16, 2013.) See Innocence and Recent Legislation.

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