Rusty Hardin Picked For Prosecutor In Morton Case
• by Morgan Smith
March 13, 2012

Houston criminal defense lawyer Rusty Hardin will be the special prosecutor in the court of inquiry looking into possible misconduct in the case of Michael Morton, who was wrongfully convicted of bludgeoning his wife to death in 1987.

This won't be Hardin's first high-profile case. The former Harris County prosecutor has represented Roger Clemens, J. Howard Marshall's estate in the Anna Nicole Smith lawsuit, and during the Enron scandal, accounting firm Arthur Anderson.

Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, who prosecuted Morton and is now a state district judge, has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in his court filings, and has expressed regret over the 25 years that Morton was imprisoned before he was exonerated in December.

Morton argues through his lawyers that there is probable cause to believe that Anderson should be charged with contempt of court and tampering with official documents. Morton's lawyers allege that Anderson concealed police reports that included a transcript of a telephone conversation between a sheriff’s deputy and Morton’s mother-in-law in which she reported that her 3-year-old grandson had seen a “monster” — who was not his father — attack and kill his mother.

Anderson's lawyers said that the judge in the case only requested a small portion of the police reports be turned over and called the complete report "nothing more than an artifice, a construct to support a requested result."

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/court-of-criminal-appeals/rusty-hardin-picked-prosecutor-morton-case/