In a story that dates back more than 25 years, former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson recently pled no contest to contempt of court charges for withholding evidence in a 1987 murder trial. As a result, Anderson—who served as D.A. in Williamson County before serving 11 years as a state judge—has been ordered to serve 10 days in jail and 500 hours of community service.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Anderson has also been disbarred.

According to reports, Anderson’s charges stemmed from intentionally “hiding evidence when he prosecuted Michael Morton for a murder in the 1980s”. Because of Anderson’s efforts to conceal crucial pieces of evidence, Morton was convicted of the murder of his own wife and sentenced to life in prison. However, when DNA evidence finally surfaced to prove Morton’s innocence, he was subsequently “released from prison in October, 2011, and was exonerated for the murder of his wife after nearly 25 years behind bars”.

In what was called a “blunt and scathing ruling” by the Austin-American Statesman, Judge Louis Sturns—the judge presiding over Anderson’s case—ruled that Anderson “acted to defraud the trial court and Morton’s lawyers,” and went on to suggest that Anderson could not have possibly done anything more damaging to the court or to the defendant.

“This court cannot think of a more intentionally harmful act than a prosecutor’s conscious choice to hide mitigating evidence so as to create an uneven playing field for a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence” .

Michael Morton was in attendance for the sentencing of Anderson and, while he was reluctant to express complete satisfaction, he did go so far as to admit that he was somewhat content with Anderson’s disbarment.

“When it began, I was asked what I wanted. I said ‘The only thing that I want, as a baseline, is for Ken Anderson to be off the bench and no longer practice law,'” Morton said. “Both of those things have happened and more”.

While it is a relief that justice has finally been served in this particular case, it is pretty disturbing that this kind of blatant abuse of the rights of a defendant could have happened in the first place. However, at Freedom Bail Bonds, we have only the utmost respect for the rights of our clients—even when others may not. Our incredibly professional agents do everything they can to help both our clients and our community, and whether that means keeping you up to date on local news or helping your loved one out in a tough time, you can always trust that we go about our business in an ethical and honest fashion.