Getting Life

May 26, 2014
In 1986, 32-year-old Michael Morton’s life changed forever the day his wife, Christine, was bludgeoned to death in their bed while their three-year-old son looked on. In this eloquent, page-turning memoir, Morton recalls his wrongful conviction of that murder and the 25 years he spent in the hellish Texas penal system before DNA tests proved his innocence. He describes his trial, in which, he explains, the prosecutor in the rural county outside of Austin blatantly withheld exculpatory evidence. Despite being railroaded and sentenced to life in prison, Morton’s attitude remains more positive than you’d expect: he’s determined to bring his wife’s real killer to justice, even as he’s exposed to some of the harshest prisons in Texas. With the help of the New York–based Innocence Project, a legal effort founded to overturn wrongful convictions through DNA testing, Morton pushed through years of blocked appeals until the courts finally approved testing a bloody bandana found near the murder scene (it revealed the DNA of another man, who would be found guilty of the murder in 2013).

June 15, 2014

In this absorbing first-person narrative, first-time author Morton shows readers how it is possible in our justice system to be convicted of a crime without substantial evidence. One afternoon in August 1986, Morton returned home from work to find that his wife had been bludgeoned to death. He became the prime suspect, even though there was nothing to tie him to the murder. Tried and convicted, Morton spent 25 years behind bars in Williamson County, TX, until the New York-based Innocence Project took on his case and secured his release using DNA evidence. The happier side to all this is that Morton holds no grudges, and, back at home, he has found peace through a new marriage and a new life. The narrative deals mostly with the man's personal traumas during his incarceration as well as his prison experiences--readers may prefer one or the other of these or they may learn about his courage to find forgiveness despite everything that has happened. VERDICT Written in a crisp style, this book should appeal to almost any reader who is interested in true crime stories. It is a must-read for students and professionals in criminal justice.--Frances O. Sandiford, formerly with Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
If Morton's newly built house in Austin, Texas, had been just a few hundred feet in another direction and not in Williamson County, the bludgeoning murder of his wife, Christine, would have been investigated by a different set of law-enforcement officials, a difference that would probably have kept him from being imprisoned, falsely, for nearly 25 years. As it was, before he had time to grieve and despite evidence to the contrary (exculpatory evidence that was kept from the defense, eventually resulting in prosecutor Ken Anderson being convicted of criminal contempt), Morton was sentenced to life in prison. DNA evidence and help from the New Yorkbased Innocence Project helped Morton win back his freedom. In straightforward, thoughtful prose, surprisingly devoid of bitterness, from his personal journals as well as with court transcripts, Morton details his love for his wife and son, his loss of both, and his years spent surviving in prison and trying to prove his innocence. A powerful memoir and a powerful indictment of the U.S. judicial system and its potential to imprison innocent men and women.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)