Michael Morton is going to become a hero to individuals who are tried unjustly for crimes they didn’t commit.

He’s also going to become a thorn in the side of overzealous prosecutors.

Just who is Michael Morton? He is a man whose name is on a piece of legislation approved by the Texas Senate that now requires prosecutors to hand over DNA evidence in criminal trials. And why is Morton’s name on this bill? Because in 1987 he was convicted wrongfully of murdering his wife. He spend a quarter-century in the Big House serving time for a crime he didn’t commit. The proof of his innocence arrived just recently when authorities examined DNA evidence from the investigation that proved what Morton had said all along: that he was innocent.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/04/11/senate-approves-michael-morton-act/

The bill was co-authored by Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Bob Duncan, R-Lubbock – two of the Senate’s brighter lights.

Senate Bill 1611 will require DNA evidence to be handed over to defense counsel. Current law requires it now only if a court orders it. Michael Morton deserved to have that evidence handy when he was being railroaded into the prison system. The district attorney in that 1987 case, Ken Anderson, is now a Williamson County district judge who says he did nothing wrong. He faces possible prosecution himself for the manner in which he prosecuted the case.

Texas long has had this reputation as being “tough on criminals.” I have no problem with that label. I do have a problem, though, with the notion of the state disallowing evidence that would exonerate innocent people.

The Michael Morton Act has helped reinvigorate the term “justice” in the Texas criminal justice system.