Digest of the Hacker News Thread (item?id=10469653, October 2015)

Original Article
“For the First Time Ever, a Prosecutor Will Go to Jail for Wrongfully Convicting an Innocent Man”
Huffington Post, November 8, 2013 (updated 2015)
Author: Mark Godsey (co-founder of the Ohio Innocence Project)

Case Summary

• 1986: Christine Morton murdered in Texas.
• 1987: Her husband Michael Morton convicted largely on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life.
• Prosecutor Ken Anderson (later elected judge) intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence, including:
  • A transcript of Morton’s 3-year-old son telling his grandmother that “Daddy was not home” and a “monster” killed Mommy.
  • Police reports of a suspicious green van and a blood-stained bandana near the scene.
• 2011: DNA testing on the bandana implicated another man (Mark Norwood), who was later convicted. Morton exonerated after 25 years.
• 2013: Ken Anderson pleaded guilty to criminal contempt, surrendered his law license, paid a $500 fine, performed 500 hours of community service, and served 10 days in jail (released after 5 for good behavior).
  The article calls this the first time in U.S. history a prosecutor has gone to jail for misconduct leading to a wrongful conviction.

Thread Metrics
468 points | 228 comments | posted ~October 2015 (republished old article)

Major Themes & Notable Comments

1. Prosecutorial Power Imbalance & Plea Bargains (top comment, 64 replies)

   • vishnugupta: Prosecutors have almost nothing to lose and can coerce guilty pleas with draconian threats.
   • netcan: Plea bargaining is the modern version of historical coerced confessions (torture, witch trials, etc.). Full trials are too expensive to be the norm.

2. Is 10 Days in Jail Enough?
   Overwhelming consensus: No.

   • “10 days vs 25 years” repeated dozens of times.
   • Suggestions ranged from “equal time served” to “he should have gotten life.”

3. Jury Nullification & Extreme Skepticism

   • graycat (multiple long posts): Would acquit in almost every case without iron-clad proof; distrusts police testimony, DNA labs, probabilities, and emotional appeals. Repeated similar posts in other threads.
   • Responses split: some called it irresponsible vigilantism; others praised it as a necessary check on the system.

4. Historical Context & Systemic Issues

   • Confession as the “queen of proofs” throughout history.
   • Brady violations are common but almost never punished.
   • Absolute immunity for prosecutors is the root problem.

5. Other Notable Points

   • Someone pointed out Mike Nifong (Duke lacrosse prosecutor) also spent a day in jail in 2007 for contempt, so the “first ever” claim in the headline is technically incorrect.
   • Several users noted the article is from 2013 and questioned the repost.
   • Links shared: Michael Morton’s book Getting Life, his Quora answers, and the actual court documents.

Overall Tone
Strong mix of anger, cynicism, and cautious optimism. Most commenters saw the Anderson case as a tiny step forward but grossly inadequate. The thread reflects widespread belief that the American criminal justice system is structurally rigged in favor of prosecutors and against defendants, especially the poor and minorities.

Current Status (as of 2025)
Ken Anderson remains disbarred and has kept an extremely low profile. Michael Morton has become an advocate for criminal-justice reform. Texas passed the Michael Morton Act in 2013, which strengthened discovery rules and is considered one of the strongest open-file laws in the country. Wrongful-conviction prosecutions of prosecutors remain extraordinarily rare.