Mark Norwood arrested in 1986 Murder of Christine Morton(Murder Conviction)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/michael-morton-remarries-in-kilgore
Michael Morton remarries in Kilgore
Married Cynthia Furrh Chessman from Kilgore, Texas
Published March 9, 2013, Updated March 10, 2013

Kilgore, Texas (KXAN) - Michael Morton, a man falsely accused who spent 25 years in prison after his wife was murdered, was married again Saturday.

Morton married Kilgore resident Cynthia Furrh Chessman.
 ::snipping2::
Morton was set free on October 4, 2011 after 25 years behind bars.

His wife, Christine Morton was found beaten to death on Aug. 13, 1986, in the couple's Round Rock home. The following year, a jury convicted Michael Morton of killing her and sentenced him to life in prison. He has always maintained his innocence.

In August, a bombshell was revealed in court. New DNA testing on a bloody bandanna discovered near the crime scene found Christine Morton's DNA mixed with the DNA of a known violent offender, someone who is not Michael Morton.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/new-film-tells-michael-morton-story
New film tells Michael Morton story
Documentary debuts at SXSW
March 12, 2013

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A man once thought to be a murderer is the subject of a new documentary about the darkest time in his life.

Michael Morton is the main character in a big screen story of his wrongful conviction in the killing of his wife. An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton story premiered Monday at South By Southwest.
More...

Video clip at link.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/texas-senate-honors-morton/nWqy3/
Texas Senate honors Morton
March 13, 2013

The Texas Senate honored Michael Morton on Wednesday with a resolution praising him as a criminal justice activist who has “used his experience for positive means — to foster judicial reform” and help other wrongly convicted Texans.
“I’m amazed at how articulate, how kind and how gentle he is,” said the sponsor of the resolution, Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.
“Mr. Morton’s faith, great courage and strength remind us all that humanity can shine even through the darkest and most inhumane treatment, that an open belief in truth can move mountains and save lives,” Ellis said.
With Morton and his new wife Cynthia standing on the Senate floor, the resolution was unanimously approved, followed by an extended standing ovation from senators and most of the people in the gallery.
Morton did not address the the chamber but spoke briefly with each senator as they stood in line to shake his hand.
 ::snipping2::
The Mortons are in town for the premier of “An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story,” a documentary about his incarceration and life afterward. They plan to be in San Angelo next week for the trial of Mark Alan Norwood, a former Austin carpet installer accused of killing his first wife, Christine Morton, in 1987.
Michael Morton served almost 25 years in prison for the murder of Christine, who was beaten to death in their southwest Williamson County home in 1986. He was freed in October 2011 and ultimately declared innocent by the Texas courts.

[Sister]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/texas-senate-honors-morton/nWqy3/
Texas Senate honors Morton
March 13, 2013

The Texas Senate honored Michael Morton on Wednesday with a resolution praising him as a criminal justice activist who has “used his experience for positive means — to foster judicial reform” and help other wrongly convicted Texans.
“I’m amazed at how articulate, how kind and how gentle he is,” said the sponsor of the resolution, Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.
“Mr. Morton’s faith, great courage and strength remind us all that humanity can shine even through the darkest and most inhumane treatment, that an open belief in truth can move mountains and save lives,” Ellis said.
With Morton and his new wife Cynthia standing on the Senate floor, the resolution was unanimously approved, followed by an extended standing ovation from senators and most of the people in the gallery.
Morton did not address the the chamber but spoke briefly with each senator as they stood in line to shake his hand.
 ::snipping2::
The Mortons are in town for the premier of “An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story,” a documentary about his incarceration and life afterward. They plan to be in San Angelo next week for the trial of Mark Alan Norwood, a former Austin carpet installer accused of killing his first wife, Christine Morton, in 1987.
Michael Morton served almost 25 years in prison for the murder of Christine, who was beaten to death in their southwest Williamson County home in 1986. He was freed in October 2011 and ultimately declared innocent by the Texas courts.

It will be of great interest to me to see how the portray the prosecutor who did not want the bandana tested for DNA.  I know how I would portray him -- but Mr. Morton seems to be more kind than me.

[MuffyBee]

There is a lot of background information concerning Mark Norwood in this article for those that aren't familiar with this case. He has a lengthy criminal history and his mother says she believes he is innocent of murdering Christine Morton and won't get a fair trial.  I hope this time they have the person that committed the crime.  Hoping there will be justice not only for Christine Morton (may she rest in peace), but also wrongly convicted Michael and their families and friends.  

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/trial-to-start-in-27-year-old-murder-case-of-chris/nWt73/
Trial to start in 27-year-old murder case of Christine Morton
March 18, 2013
ut al
 ::snipping2::


Norwood’s photos also grace the mugshot galleries of police departments from Tennessee to California. A review of Norwood’s travels from one coast to another — and all the arrests in between — finds a sometimes violent man with a history of drugs and theft.
He had been in and out of jail for much of his life on various petty criminal charges. But it was a 2007 arrest in Riverside, Calif., that tied the former carpet layer and sometimes construction worker to two brutal murders 21 years earlier in Central Texas.
Authorities say Norwood, whose first capital murder trial starts Monday in San Angelo, is a killer who used a piece of wood to bludgeon to death Christine Morton and Debra Masters Baker as they slept.
But Norwood’s family members staunchly disagree.
“He’s innocent,” said his mother.
Christine’s husband, Michael Morton, was initially convicted of the crime. He spent 25 years in prison before the testing of previously undisclosed evidence set him free. Even as the courts declared Morton innocent, prosecutors were accusing Norwood of the murder.
 ::snipping2::
orwood moved to Austin with Judy Norwood about 1984, his mother said.
He and his wife lived in North Austin in various apartments, said his mother. They struggled when the recession hit in the mid 1980s and held frequent garage sales to raise money.
Records show that in 1985, the couple lived at 1405 Justin Lane — about two blocks from Baker’s house and about 12 miles south along U.S. 183 from the Morton home.
Sometime after her husband had left for work at 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 13, 1986, Christine Morton, 31, was killed when her skull was crushed by eight blows to her head as she lay in bed in the 9100 block of Hazelhurst Drive. A neighbor checking on the Mortons’ 3-year-old son, who was wandering outside alone, discovered her body beneath a comforter, suitcase and wicker basket. Michael Morton was wrongly convicted of the crime and served 25 years in prison before being declared innocent.
Baker, 34, was killed Jan. 13, 1988, by six blows to the head while lying in bed at her home in the 1200 block of Dwyce Drive in North Central Austin. She was alone at the time; her two young children were spending the night with her estranged husband. Her case remained open and unsolved for years.
In 1987, Austin police charged Mark Norwood with the burglary of two homes and with the burglary of a vehicle in his neighborhood, according to Travis County court records. One victim said she saw her stolen items for sale at one of Norwood’s garage sales.
He was sentenced to four years in prison in May 1988 for the crimes, according to court records. But Dorothy Norwood said her son told her he had bought the stolen goods from another man.
Mark Norwood was released from prison in January 1989, said his mother.
He spent the early 1990s living next door to her and her husband in Cedar Creek community west of Bastrop, working various construction jobs, said Dorothy Norwood. In 1996, his wife Judy Norwood left him, his mother said.
He also returned to Nashville where his son lived for a time, Dorothy Norwood said. In 2001 he moved with her to Riverside, Calif., where he found construction work, said his mother.
The Riverside Police Department in 2007 charged Norwood with felony possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest, according to California court records.
Norwood pleaded guilty.
“It was his word against Riverside Police,” said Norwood’s sister, Connie Hoff of California. Hoff also said that her brother “might not have had the best choices of associating with people in his past, but he is not a criminal.”
Norwood did not go to prison — he received three years of probation, court records show — but his DNA profile was entered into a national database.
In 2011, forensic scientists tested DNA from a bloody bandanna investigators found about 100 yards from the Morton home. Authorities say the blood — and a pubic hair found at the scene of the Baker killing — matched Norwood’s.
In the meantime, Dorothy Norwood said she and her son moved back to Bastrop in 2009 because jobs became scarce in California. Mark Norwood worked part-time as a dishwasher at Maxine’s On Main Street restaurant in Bastrop.
He was jailed again in October 2010 on charges of assault causing bodily injury, according to court records. Greg Gilleland, the first assistant district attorney for the Bastrop District Attorney’s office, said Norwood slapped a man, who now can’t be found. The case has stalled.
Norwood was living with his mother in Bastrop when he was arrested in November 2011 and charged with killing Morton. A year later, he was charged with a second count of capital murder in connection with Baker’s death.
Dorothy Norwood said she doesn’t believe her son will get a fair trial in the Morton case, which is being tried in San Angelo because of all the publicity the killing has gotten in the Williamson County area.
“This is a farce,” she said, adding that her son believes investigators have not considered all possible suspects in the case.
More...

Among the comments:

Posted by theviewfromhere at 4:53 a.m. Mar. 18, 2013 Report Abuse
This man murdered a man's wife, then lived silently while the innocent husband rotted in prison. Michael Morton's request that Norwood not receive the death penalty is the most gracious thing I've ever seen. Not sure I could be so forgiving.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/convictions-based-on-bad-science-target-of-two-bil/nWt6k/
Convictions based on bad science target of two bills
March 17, 2013

As high-profile exonerations continue to make headlines, the Texas Legislature is tackling bills that would give state courts direction on how to handle convictions based on questionable or discredited forensic science.
Courts have long struggled, with mixed results, to ensure that scientific testimony is valid and fairly presented at trial. But because science evolves, appellate courts have the added challenge of weighing whether convictions should be overturned when scientific consensus changes or experts repudiate their trial testimony.
Identical bills by Sen. John Whitmire and Rep. Sylvester Turner, both Democrats from Houston, would give Texas courts the authority to overturn convictions if:
• New scientific findings contradict trial evidence presented by prosecutors.
• The new findings were not available during the trial.
• A jury, if presented with the findings, would be unlikely to convict the defendant.
State law is explicit on how the courts must handle innocence claims based on DNA evidence, but judges have struggled when scientific advances call into question other types of evidence — including signs of arson, gunshot residue and dog scent lineups — used to obtain a conviction.

::snipping2::
Morton was freed from prison in 2011 after DNA tests pointed to another man, Mark Alan Norwood, in the 1986 beating death of Morton’s wife, Christine, in their Williamson County home. Norwood’s capital murder trial in her death begins this week.
But Morton’s lawyers, unwilling to rely solely on DNA tests, also worked to debunk a medical examiner’s opinion that placed Christine Morton’s death at no later that 1:15 a.m. — when only her husband and 3-year-old son were home — based only on the contents of her stomach.
With no physical evidence or witnesses tying Michael Morton to the crime, the testimony by then-Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo was by far the most persuasive evidence in the case, jurors said. But Bayardo recanted his testimony in 2011, acknowledging that modern pathology practices recognize that stomach contents alone cannot provide an accurate time of death.
Whitmire’s Senate Bill 344 is heading toward the Senate floor after committee approval last week.
The state’s leading group for prosecutors, the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, has not taken a position on the bill, leaving the decision to individual prosecutors. The Harris County district attorney’s office, whose opposition doomed a similar bill in 2009, is unopposed after Whitmire agreed to minor wording changes, officials said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/18/trial-will-bring-focus-morton-case-alleged-killer/
Trial Switches Focus of Morton Case to Alleged Killer
March 18, 2013

Mark Norwood, charged with the 1986 murder of Christine Morton — a crime that her husband, Michael Morton, was wrongfully convicted of — will go on trial Monday in San Angelo.
 ::snipping2::
Norwood, who has been in the Williamson County Jail more than 16 months, has insisted that he is innocent. His trial is expected to last about two weeks, and if convicted, he could face life in prison without parole. Christine Morton’s family, including Michael Morton, has asked prosecutors not to seek the death penalty.

During Norwood’s time in jail, the case has been the focus of hundreds of news reports and a documentary film released a week ago at the South by Southwest Film Festival. But little has been reported about Norwood, who has had an extensive and sometimes violent criminal past, public records show. Williamson County state district Judge Burt Carnes has issued a gag order in the case, and the barrage of news reports has centered on Michael Morton’s ordeal.

At the trial, prosecutors will attempt to piece together decades-old evidence to prove that Norwood walked into the Mortons’ North Austin home on Aug. 13, 1986, and beat Christine Morton to death as she lay in bed.

The proceedings may also provide a clearer picture of how the original murder investigation went awry, resulting in Michael Morton’s wrongful conviction. Prosecutors and defense lawyers across Texas will be watching the trial closely.
 ::snipping2::
Lisa Tanner, an assistant attorney general who is leading the Norwood prosecution in the Morton case, will try to show jurors that in 1986, before he was arrested in the felony theft case, his forays into strangers’ homes had turned violent. His DNA was identified on a bandana with Christine Morton's blood on it that was found about 100 yards away from the Morton home.

Norwood’s family and associates over the decades are among the 199 names on a witness list Tanner filed in the case. On the list are police officers from Austin and Tennessee, people who reported crimes Norwood was accused of in Tennessee, his mother, two of his ex-wives, his son and a former employer. Also on the witness list are some of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department deputies who examined the Morton murder in 1986, and Ken Bates, an investigator whom Michael Morton’s lawyers hired to help build their argument that an intruder had committed the crime. Michael Morton is also expected to testify at the trial. It will be the first occasion on which Morton will share a room with the man suspected of committing the crime that took his wife and led to his wrongful conviction.

In 1986, Williamson County Sheriff’s Department investigators focused on Morton as the culprit largely because of a note they found in the couple’s bathroom in which he told his wife he was disappointed they hadn’t made love the previous night, his birthday.

They appeared to give no credence to a call from Morton’s mother-in-law, who told police that her 3-year-old grandson had seen a “monster” with a big mustache beat his mother. And there appeared to be little follow-up on reports from the Mortons’ neighbors, who said they saw a man in a green van park near the family's home and walk into the woods behind it.

Despite Morton’s protests that he was innocent — he explained that his wife had been alive when he left for work the morning of the crime — investigators homed in on him. The prosecutor, Ken Anderson, who is now a Williamson County state district judge, convinced the jury that Morton beat his wife to death in a sex-crazed rage. (Anderson is facing potential criminal and civil action for his role in the case. Morton’s lawyers allege he withheld those key items of evidence during the 1987 trial. Anderson has denied allegations of wrongdoing.) The jury sentenced Morton to life in prison.

There were, however, other clues at the crime scene that didn’t implicate Morton. Whether Tanner can connect any of those pieces of evidence to Norwood remains to be seen.

Investigators found about 15 sets of fingerprints at the crime scene that did not match Christine Morton or their son, Eric, including two sets on the unlocked sliding glass door and others in the master bedroom. There was also an unidentified footprint in the Mortons’ backyard. A .45-caliber gun was also stolen from the  home.

Tanner may also try to tie Norwood to the neighbors’ reports about the man in the green van. Divorce records show that in 1981, when Norwood divorced his first wife, he kept a 1974 Chevrolet van, though the documents don't say the color of it.

The prosecution could also bring up Norwood’s link to a similar murder in Travis County for which he is also charged. His DNA was found on a pubic hair at the scene of Debra Baker’s murder in January 1988. She was found beaten to death in her bed just blocks away from Norwood’s home, and members of her family are on the state’s witness list.

Jurors may also hear that Norwood’s crimes didn’t stop after the 1987 felony theft. In 2007, Norwood was arrested in California and charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor resistance or obstruction. It was during that offense that law enforcement officers took a biological sample from Norwood and entered it into the national DNA database. When lawyers for Michael Morton obtained permission to test DNA on the blue bandana — after more than six years of battling in court — the results were linked to Norwood through the national database.

And in October 2010, just more than a year before he was arrested in the Morton case, Norwood was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury in Bastrop.

Despite his criminal past, Norwood’s lawyers could also have a strong defense to make, one veteran criminal defense attorney said. Bobby Mims, the incoming president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said that authorities already got this case wrong once before.
For prosecutors, trying decades-old cases that have been reopened because of DNA evidence is not as novel as it once was, said Edmonds, of the prosecutors’ association. What makes this case so unusual, he said, is that investigators were able to match the DNA that exonerated Morton with someone whose DNA was in the national database. And while that unusual circumstance has occurred in some rape cases, often the statute of limitations has expired, so the suspect cannot be tried. But a murder charge has no such time constraint.

More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Norwood-murder-trial-starts-Monday-198703671.html
Norwood murder trial starts Monday
March 18, 2013

SAN ANGELO, Texas -- A high-profile Williamson County murder trial began Monday in San Angelo.
Mark Norwood entered the courthouse in a wheelchair Monday morning. Norwood is charged in the 1986 homicide of Christine Morton. DNA testing in 2011 connected him to the crime. That same DNA evidence cleared the victim's husband Michael Morton of the murder.
 ::snipping2::
Norwood is also charged with a second murder in Travis County. He's accused in the death of Debra Baker. Officers found her beaten to death in her North Austin home in 1988, two years after the Morton murder.
Norwood's trial was moved to the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo after a judge said it would be difficult to find a fair jury in Williamson County.
 ::snipping2::

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

March 18, 2013 Tweets
https://twitter.com/MichaelM_KVUE

3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
@ShannonM_KVUE & I about to go live from #NorwoodTrial from SanAngelo at 11am on @KVUE Midday pic.twitter.com/Fqh2j3zi5m
 View photo

3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
http://telly.com/90D902  - #MarkNorwood VIDEO entering courthouse. Didn't know I was using Telly video app. Lets try this again.
 View summary

4h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
VIDEO #MarkNorwood entering San Angelo courthouse 1st day of trial charged w/killing Christine #Morton @KVUE  http://telly.com/9069YY (vid not working-next vid works.  MB)
 View summary

4h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
#MarkNorwood just entered Tom Green Co. courthouse #SanAngelo in
wheelchair by deputies. He is refusing to eat whole in custody. @KVUE

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/jury-selection-continues-in-norwood-trial/nWwcp/
Jury selection continues in Norwood trial
March 18, 2013

Jury selection continues in San Angelo today for the trial of Mark Norwood, who is accused in the beating death of Christine Morton in 1986 in Williamson County.
The trial is not expected to start at the Tom Green County courthouse until Tuesday. Judge Burt Carnes, the presiding judge, said last week that he expected the trial to start Monday afternoon. Attorneys in the case cannot comment because they are under a gag order. All electronics have been forbidden in the courtroom.
Norwood has been charged with capital murder. The trial was moved out of Williamson County because of the publicity the case has received.
 ::snipping2::
Norwood, 58, is a former carpet layer and construction worker who worked in the area where Christine Morton was killed. He and his relatives have said that he is not guilty.
One of his lawyers, Russell Hunt, has previously said that the bandanna could have gotten Christine Morton’s blood on it after being stored with other evidence in the case.
The death penalty is not being considered in the case because of requests from Christine Morton’s relatives. Norwood is also charged with capital murder in the case of Debra Masters Baker, who was beaten to death in her bed in Austin in 1988. Investigators have said one of Norwood’s pubic hairs was found in Baker’s bedroom.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/williamson/arguments-to-begin-the-the-murder-trial-of-mark-norwood
Gun once belonging to Morton recovered from a friend of Norwood's
Opening statements come in murder trial
March 19, 2013

SAN ANGELO, Texas (KXAN) - A .45-caliber handgun that was missing from the home of Michael and Christine Morton after Christine was beaten to death in 1986 was handed over to authorities 25 years later by a one-time acquaintance of Mark Norwood, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Lisa Tanner, an assistant district attorney in Williamson County, made the revelation during her opening remarks in the murder trial of Norwood, who was charged with Christine Morton's death based on DNA evidence found near the crime scene.

That DNA also served to exonerate Michael Morton, who was wrongly convicted of killing his wife at their home in Williamson County.

"The evidence was there all along," Tanner told the jury during her hourlong opening statement. "The science just needed to catch up."
 ::snipping2::
Norwood's lawyer Ariel Payan gave the defense's opening statement, saying that the DNA could have been contaminated.

Tanner said the handgun registered to Michael Morton was recovered in Tennessee from a man who said he had worked with Norwood several years earlier. Norwood also had lived in Tennessee for awhile in the years after Christine Morton's death.

Morton and his once-estranged son, Eric, were among those entering the courthouse on Tuesday morning. Morton was also seen chatting briefly on the courthouse steps with Norwood's mother, Dorothy, who has said she believes that her son is innocent.

The trial, moved to West Texas because of the publicity the case has generated in the Austin area, officially got under way on Monday when a jury of seven women and five men was seated.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/prosecutors-say-norwood-sold-michael-mortons-gun/nWxNP/
Prosecutors say Norwood sold Michael Morton’s gun
March 18, 2013

AN ANGELO — The big bombshell revealed during the opening statements of Mark Norwood’s capital murder trial Tuesday morning was that prosecutors had a piece of evidence against Norwood that has not been revealed publicly.
Prosecutor Lisa Tanner told jurors that investigators in 2011 had found a .45 Colt pistol that was missing from Michael Morton’s house when Morton’s wife, Christine Morton, was killed in 1986. A man named Louis Wann who had hired Norwood to help remodel a house in Austin told investigators that Norwood had sold him the gun in 1986, Tanner said.
Michael Morton, who was the first witness to take the stand in the trial in San Angelo this morning, said he had kept the gun on a top shelf in a closet in the house and learned that it was missing after he came home from work the day his wife was killed.
Michael Morton was held in jail for 25 years in connection with his wife’s death before DNA evidence exonerated him in 2011. That evidence was a blue bandanna found on a curb behind the Morton’s house. A test of the bandanna in 2011 showed that it had Norwood’s DNA as well as Christine Morton’s blood and hair.
Norwood has been charged with capital murder in connection with the death of Christine Morton who was beaten in her southwestern Williamson County home in August 1986.
Tanner said Tuesday that testing done in 1986 showed blood on the bandanna but that DNA tests were not available then.
The attorneys in the case are under a gag order, but one of Norwood’s attorneys has previously said the bandanna could have gotten blood on it from being stored improperly with other evidence.
Wann, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., showed investigators Morton’s gun when authorities interviewed him, said Tanner. Wann had hired Norwood in 1986 to remodel a home in North Austin for Travis County Judge Guy Herman who had just had triplets with his wife, Tanner said.
 ::snipping2::
Defense lawyer Ariel Payan took just a few minutes for his opening statement today. He said the two issues the jurors had to consider in the trial were “contamination and liars.”
“You have to weigh the pieces of evidence,” he said.

Comments

[MuffyBee]

March 19, 2013 Tweets
https://twitter.com/MichaelM_KVUE

1h Shannon Murray ‏@ShannonM_KVUE
Opening statements already wrapped. State focusing on evidence like the bandanna found on crime scene in '86 and the stolen pistol.
 Retweeted by Michael S. Moore

1h Shannon Murray ‏@ShannonM_KVUE
5 witnesses sworn in this morning including Morton and Norwood's mother. #Norwoodtrial
 Retweeted by Michael S. Moore

1h Shannon Murray ‏@ShannonM_KVUE
Michael Morton is now testifying in Mark Norwood's murder trial. #Norwoodtrial
 Retweeted by Michael S. Moore

3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
#MichaelMorton did smile several times & patted Mrs Norwood shoulder as they talked. #Norwoodtrial pic.twitter.com/HylHe5p0kX
 View photo

3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
#MarkNorwood being wheeled into #TomGreenCo courthouse in San Angelo. #Norwoodtrial #MichaelMorton @KVUE pic.twitter.com/Ixq00R2xNR
 View photo
3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
#MichaelMorton & #MarkNorwood's mother outside #San Angelo. Couldn't make out what was said. @KVUE #Norwoodtrial pic.twitter.com/WbtIEhilDI
 View photo

3h Michael S. Moore ‏@MichaelM_KVUE
As #MichaelMorton & fam waited outside courthouse #MarkNorwood fam walked up. Morton & Norwood's mother spoke briefly. @KVUE  #Norwoodtrial

14h Shannon Murray ‏@ShannonM_KVUE
#Norwoodtrial DAY 1 WRAP: Norwood murder trial begins in San Angelo http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Norwood-murder-trial-starts-Monday-198703671.html
 Retweeted by Michael S. Moore
 View summary

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/prosecutors-say-norwood-sold-michael-mortons-gun/nWxNP/
In Norwood trial, neighbor describes finding Morton’s body
March 19, 2013
SAN ANGELO — Update 3:30 p.m. Jury is on afternoon break. A neighbor of the Mortons, Elizabeth Morgan, testified Tuesday afternoon that on the day Christine Morton was killed, she noticed the Mortons’ 3-year-old son, Eric, was outside by himself with a dirty diaper. The Mortons never left their son alone, she said.
She said Eric was sitting on the front steps of his house when she asked him where his mother was. “He said ‘Mommy’s gone,’ ” Morgan said. Morgan said she asked the child again where Christine Morton was. “He said ‘Mommy’s at the store,’ ” she said.
Morgan said she noticed that Christine Morton’s car was still in the driveway. Morgan said Christine Morton worked for Allstate Insurance Agency, so she called the agency and found out Christine was not there. She said she also called the Safeway grocery store where Michael Morton worked as a manager but he was not there either.
Morgan said she went inside the Mortons’ home through an unlocked front door, calling out Christine’s name a few times but at first didn’t notice anything was wrong.
Finally she glanced into a bathroom mirror and saw the Mortons’ waterbed in their master bedroom with a wicker basket on top of that and then a suitcase piled on top of the wicker basket, she said.
Morgan, who is a trained emergency medical technician, said a comforter was tucked tightly around the waterbed. Morgan said she went up and patted the comforter and felt feet underneath it. She said she then pulled out part of the comforter and found a hand and tried to take a pulse but found none.
Morgan then ran out of the house and called the Williamson County sheriff office. “I was terrified,” she said. “I told them there was a deceased person and I didn’t know who it was.”
A DPS lab analyst, Anthony Arnold, testified later in the afternoon that when he arrived at the Morton house there was so much blood splattered on the walls of the bedroom that he thought someone had been shot. “I was wrong,” Arnold said.
An investigation later showed that Christine Morton had been bludgeoned with a wooden object.
More...

Comments

[MuffyBee]

http://interactives.kxan.com/photomojo/gallery/6593/1/day-2-mark-norwoods-murder-trial/michael-morton/
Day 2: Mark Norwood's murder trial
Arguments were expected to start Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Mark Alan Norwood, who is charged in the 1986 beating death of Christine Morton.

Nine Images in Slide Show

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/generic/news/local/williamson/michael-morton-murder-case-timeline
Michael Morton case timeline
Freed 25 years after wrongful conviction of wife's murder

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/williamson/christine-mortons-brother-takes-stand
Christine Morton's brother takes stand
Found bloody bandana that proved crucial
March 20, 2013

SAN ANGELO, Texas (KXAN) - On the third day of Mark Norwood's trial in the 1986 murder of Christine Morton, the jury heard from her brother during his testimony.

John Kirkpatrick, a marine biologist, talked about being the one to find the bloody blue bandana -- crucial in Michael Morton's exoneration and release from prison after 25 years following its DNA testing.

He said he got a phone call from his father, who told him, "You're about to hear the worst news you'll ever hear in your life," before telling him about his younger sister's murder.

Kirkpatrick testified about going to his sister's home and feeling frustrated by what he felt was a lack of an investigation from law enforcement.

"I didn’t see any police or detectives or anybody," said Kirkpatrick. "For something that had just happened, there were so many things that should’ve been going on but were not."

That's when he decided to do his own investigation, putting himself in shoes of an intruder. He said that's what led him to the wooded area behind the Morton home, a place he said would've been perfect for casing the family home in order to decide when to attack.

Kirkpatrick said that was also when he found the bloody blue bandana in street behind the brushy area near the Morton home. The bandana was brushed up against the curb.

"I just knew it was important," said Kirkpatrick. "It shouldn’t have been there. It was out of place."

He testified to calling the deputies investigating, who then collected it and took it into evidence. But it would be 25 years before it was tested for DNA.
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Link to Day 3 Photos.  (13 images)
http://interactives.kxan.com/photomojo/gallery/6606/1/day-3-mark-norwoods-murder-trial/mark-norwood/
Day 3: Mark Norwood's murder trial
The murder trial of Mark Alan Norwood heads into its third day. He is charged in the 1986 beating death of Christine Morton.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/norwood-testimony-focuses-on-blue-bandanna/nWyG9/
Norwood testimony focuses on blue bandanna
March 20, 2013


By Claire Osborn
American-Statesman Staff
Update 12:55 p.m.: The jury is on its lunch break.
John Chandler, who was a Williamson County sheriff’s deputy in 1986, testified late Wednesday morning that a neighbor of the Mortons reported seeing a black van parked in front of a house at 9112 Hazelhurst at 7:21 a.m. on the day that Christine Morton was killed. The Mortons lived at 9114 Hazelhurst.
Chandler also said that a burglar alarm went off at a house in the Mortons’ neighborhood at 7:33 a.m. the day Christine Morton died. The owners of the house, which was located a few block away at the corner of Amanda and Briarhollow, were not home and no entry had been made to the house, Chandler said.
He also said that he picked up the blue bandanna and the napkin that Christine Morton’s brother John Kirkpatrick submitted as evidence on Aug. 14, 1986. Chandler said the items had both been placed in the same plastic bag when he picked them up.
Defense lawyer Ariel Payan asked Kirkpatrick earlier in the morning if he was aware that law enforcement authorities had seen the blue bandanna on the curb and left it there before Kirkpatrick picked it up. Kirkpatrick said he didn’t know that.
The jury also heard a videotaped deposition from Williamson County Sgt. Charles Megliorino, who was a sergeant in 1986 and dusted for fingerprints at the scene on the day Christine Morton died.
During the deposition, defense attorney Russell Hunt asked Megliorino if he remembered going back to the Mortons’ house with other law enforcement authorities the day after the murder and getting Michael Morton’s permission to search the house again.
Megliorino said he didn’t remember that.
“Do you remember picking up a bandanna out of the closet and showing it to Mr. Morton?,” Hunt said in deposition. “No,” said Megliorino.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/no-finger-prints-found-on-gun-stolen-from-mortons-/nWy3N/
In Norwood trial, Michael Morton called back to stand
March 21, 2013


By Claire Osborn
American-Statesman Staff
3:30 p.m. update: Michael Morton was called back to testify Thursday afternoon in the Norwood trial. Prosecutor Lisa Tanner said she wanted to clear something up with him. Tanner asked if he remembered that police had handed him a blue bandanna that was in the Mortons’ closet.
Morton said he remembered the bandanna. He said police were going through items in the closet with him the day after his wife was killed to figure out if anything had been taken. He said the bandanna was used as a belt by his sister-in-law.
Morton also said that he knew his brother-in-law had already turned in another blue bandanna earlier that day to police. That bandanna, which his brother-in-law found outside, turned out to be the one that had blood and hair on it from Christine Morton as well as DNA from Norwood.
Defense Lawyer Russell Hunt then asked Morton to look at a photo that was taken of the Mortons’ bedroom the day Christine Morton’s body was found. The photo showed a blue bandanna in a drawer that had been pulled out of a dresser and left on the floor. Hunt asked Morton if it was the same bandanna that police later found in the Mortons’ closet. Michael Morton said he didn’t remember.
“At any time did you see a bandanna in the living room?” Hunt then said. Morton said no.
Former Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo also testified in the afternoon about the autopsy he did on Christine Morton. He said she was hit with a blunt object at least eight times and he found several blackened wood chips in her hair.
He also said Morton had two wounds on the little fingers of both hands which indicated that she had tried to defend herself by protecting her face. Bayardo said he couldn’t estimate the time of her death.
Morton died of crushing wounds to her head that left part of her brain exposed and that fractured her skull in several places, Bayardo said. Her upper jaw was also broken, one tooth was fractured and one tooth was knocked out, he said.
He said she had not been sexually assaulted. Several graphic pictures of the autopsy were shown in the courtroom while jurors watched with grave expressions on their faces. Michael Morton’s son, Eric Olson, who was 3 years old when his mother was killed in 1986, left the courtroom before the photos were shown.
1:15 p.m. update: Analysts from labs at the Department of Public Safety and a private Dallas lab have testified this morning that scrapings taken from a blue bandanna matched the DNA of Mark Norwood and Christine Morton. Most of the DNA from the scrapings came from Norwood, analysts said.
They also testified that it was not possible to determine from DNA tests whether the blood from Christine Morton that was found on the bandanna and the DNA found from Norwood on the bandanna were deposited at different times.
DNA testing done in 2010 on the blue bandanna, found near the Mortons’ home, showed that one of the bloodstains on it came from Christine Morton, said an analyst with a Dallas laboratory called Orchid Cellmark.
The analyst, Huma Nasir, was testifying Thursday morning in the capital murder trial of Mark Norwood, accused in the 1986 beating death of Christine Morton at her home in southwestern Williamson County.
Her husband, Michael Morton, was falsely convicted of her death and spent 25 years in prison before he was released in 2011 because of DNA results from the blue bandanna
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/former-co-worker-says-morton-case-defendant-sold-h/nWzpx/
Former co-worker says Morton case defendant sold him gun taken from home
March 21, 2013

SAN ANGELO — The man who said Mark Norwood sold him a gun stolen from Michael Morton initially could not remember from whom he bought the gun, according to a videotaped interview shown in court Thursday.
Louis “Sonny” Wann said in a videotaped deposition that he first told police he bought the gun from his mother-in-law who ran a cafe on U.S. 183 near Lockhart in the 1980s. “I got to thinking maybe Norwood did sell it to me,” said Wann, who was too ill to appear in the San Angelo courtroom where Norwood’s trial is being held.
 ::snipping2::
Morton’s handgun was taken from the top shelf of a closet in the Mortons’ home in the Forest North subdivision on the day that 31-year-old Christine Morton was beaten to death in her bed.
Wann, 68, and who now lives near Nashville, Tenn., said during the deposition videotaped in September 2012 and shown to jurors Thursday that Norwood was helping him remodel a garage at the home of Travis County Judge Guy Herman in Austin when Norwood asked him if he wanted to buy a gun.
Norwood said he needed money, Wann said.
Wann, who is a gun collector, said he bought the gun from Norwood for $50. He said he asked Norwood if the gun had been stolen or used in a crime. Norwood said it had not been, said Wann. Wann said he could not remember when he bought the weapon.
A prosecutor said during opening statements Tuesday that Wann bought it in 1986.
Wann said he met Norwood in the 1980s after Norwood’s father, who was working for one of Wann’s customers, introduced them.
Wann, who owned a construction company in Austin, said Norwood worked with him on six to 12 construction jobs. “Were you pretty good friends?” prosecutor Lisa Tanner asked Wann during the deposition.
“I thought we were,” said Wann.
Wann said he was attracted to Norwood’s wife, Judy, and drove her to her home in Tennessee in the 1990s after she separated from Mark Norwood. He said he had a relationship with Judy Norwood after they arrived in Tennessee but that it later ended.
Austin police detectives arrived at his house near Nashville in October 2011 and asked him if he had Morton’s gun, Wann said. He said the gun was hidden in his closet.
Defense attorney Russell Hunt said to Wann during the deposition that Wann initially did not want to admit to police that he had the gun. Wann agreed. “It wasn’t any of their business,” Wann said.
Jurors also listened Thursday to Michael Morton testify for the second time during the trial.
Prosecutor Lisa Tanner asked him if he remembered a blue bandanna that police had found in his closet the day after Christine Morton was killed. Morton said the bandanna belonged to his sister-in-law, who used it for a belt. He said he also knew that his brother-in-law had already turned in another blue bandanna earlier that day to police.
The blue bandanna that his brother-in-law found was along the curb of a house under construction about 100 yards behind the Mortons’ home.
DNA tests done on the bandanna in 2011 showed that it had Christine Morton’s blood on it and also one of her hairs, as well as DNA from Norwood.
Former Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo, who conducted Christine Morton’s autopsy, testified Thursday that she died from at least eight blows to her head but that he could not determine her time of death.
At Michael Morton’s trial in 1987, Bayardo said that Christine Morton died no later than 1:15 a.m., when no one but Michael Morton could have killed her. A jury foreman later told the American-Statesman that Bayardo’s testimony was crucial to the conviction of Morton.
Bayardo also testified Thursday that he found blackened wood chips in her hair and bruises on the little fingers on both hands, showing she had tried to protect her face during the attack.