Steps in Wrongful Convictions

Recent legal news from around the nation has included some positive steps in a pair of unsettling pro bono cases. One is the case of Michael Morton, who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 of beating his wife to death and is set to be formally exonerated this week thanks to DNA evidence that Texas prosecutors did not want tested. As the Times article notes, what is potentially groundbreaking or at least unusual is that his lawyers, including private firm attorney John Raley and a team from the Innocense Project, are also filing a request for a special hearing to determine if the prosecutor on the original case, Ken Anderson  now a state district judge  violated any laws or ethics rules by withholding evidence. Anderson has denied wrongdoing. Separately, AmLaw Daily has an update on Cleary Gottlieb's 15-year pro bono efforts, specifically that a Tennessee appeals court tossed aside the 1985 murder conviction of firm client Erskine Johnson and ordered a new trial. IP litigation counsel David Herrington has been working on Johnson's case since he was a fifth-year associate. It is now up to the state attorney general to decided if he wants to retry Johnson.