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As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

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President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.
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Texas: Appeals court declares Morton innocent

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed today to toss out Michael Morton’s 1987 conviction and life sentence for the murder of his wife, Christine, in Williamson County.

‘I just called Michael and told him the news. He was thrilled,” said Nina Morrison, a lawyer with the Innocence Project of New York. “This is the first time in almost 25 years he has not had a wrongful conviction on his record and hanging over his head, and obviously it’s a great day for him.”

Noting that recent DNA tests indicate that another man, unidentified in court documents, was the killer, the state’s highest criminal court unanimously declared: “We determine that (Morton) is entitled to relief on his actual innocence claim.”

Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said today that he will “immediately” present Harle with a motion to dismiss Morton’s indictment. With the indictment dismissed, Morton would be eligible for compensation from Texas — $80,000 for each year he was wrongly imprisoned, totaling about $2 million, with another $2 million annuity that will earn 5 percent interest and pay out monthly.


Source: statesman.com, October 12, 2011

Related article:

Death Penalty News: Texan freed after DNA clears him in wife's ...
Oct 05, 2011
Bradley did not try the original case against Morton. But the New York-based Innocence Project, which specializes in using DNA testing to overturn wrongful convictions, has accused him of suppressing evidence that would ...
Location: Texas, USA
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