DNA testing which ultimately exonerated Morton wasn't available in the US in 1987; a single lab in the UK had pioneered the techniques but they weren't widely available. Arguably a bigger factor than the prosecutor's misconduct in Morton spending so long in jail is whatever procedural rule or individual prevented the DNA evidence from the bandana being brought up and tested until 2011. That was about 23 or so years too late.
The semen in the bed could instead actually have been a core part of the prosecution's crime of passion narrative if it had gone to trial: woman is killed in her own bed in act of brutal sexual violence a day after husband leaves her a note complaining about her unwillingness to have intercourse with him. Reports of unrecognised vans being parked in residential streets might be a police lead but are certainly not exculpatory evidence, and the credit card claims were apparently inaccurate (the police had her not-stolen credit card in their possession)[1].
Overall Anderson's actions are pretty consistent with someone certain he'd got the right man and willing to breach regulations to avoid him taking it to trial and getting off on the basis the evidence against him was as circumstantial as it was compelling. Misconduct which undoubtedly influenced Morton's plea, but it's still likely the judge would (reasonably) have ruled hearsay attributed to the accused's three year old son inadmissible and green vans irrelevant, leaving him highly likely to be convicted unless his defence team were able to successfully lobby for newfangled DNA fingerprinting techniques to be explored. There was, after all, a clear imputed motive consistent with the evidence, no sign of any break-in and no alternative suspects. Even conviction at trial might still have significantly improved Morton's chances of getting the bandana DNA raised at a much earlier appeal but one can't fix the failings of America's judicial system by levying probably unwarranted accusations of malice at one rule-bending prosecutor.
The semen in the bed could instead actually have been a core part of the prosecution's crime of passion narrative if it had gone to trial: woman is killed in her own bed in act of brutal sexual violence a day after husband leaves her a note complaining about her unwillingness to have intercourse with him. Reports of unrecognised vans being parked in residential streets might be a police lead but are certainly not exculpatory evidence, and the credit card claims were apparently inaccurate (the police had her not-stolen credit card in their possession)[1].
Overall Anderson's actions are pretty consistent with someone certain he'd got the right man and willing to breach regulations to avoid him taking it to trial and getting off on the basis the evidence against him was as circumstantial as it was compelling. Misconduct which undoubtedly influenced Morton's plea, but it's still likely the judge would (reasonably) have ruled hearsay attributed to the accused's three year old son inadmissible and green vans irrelevant, leaving him highly likely to be convicted unless his defence team were able to successfully lobby for newfangled DNA fingerprinting techniques to be explored. There was, after all, a clear imputed motive consistent with the evidence, no sign of any break-in and no alternative suspects. Even conviction at trial might still have significantly improved Morton's chances of getting the bandana DNA raised at a much earlier appeal but one can't fix the failings of America's judicial system by levying probably unwarranted accusations of malice at one rule-bending prosecutor.
[1]http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/the-guilty-man/
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