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Michael Morton Act – Knowing Evidence Against You | Houston Criminal Laws

Dan Cogdell | 1313 Views | 09/10/2015

Dan Cogdell

Your right to know what the evidence against is in a Texas State case. Some people call it the Michael Morton Act. Hi, my name is Dan Cogdell. I’m a lawyer in Houston. I’ve been practicing law in Texas for 32 years.

Michael Morton Act

As of January 1st of this year 2014 the State of Texas enacted a law that provides defendants complete and full disclosure of the offense reports that are prepared in connection with the investigation into Texas criminal cases. That didn’t used to be the law in fact you’d never had until January 1st of this year. You didn’t have a right to a complete copy of the offense report. And what changed the law was Michael Morton.

Michael Morton was an individual who is wrongfully convicted of murder in Georgetown. He’s been I believe 16 years in prison for a crime, ultimately that was proven that he did not commit. The individual that was the DA at that time became a judge, that judge was last year’s sanction lost his bench and actually I think did ten days in jail for suppressing favorable evidence.

Offense Reports

That’s a long winded way of saying the law has changed in Texas. There’s actually been a sea-change in Texas in terms of an individual’s right for full and complete discovery in Texas criminal cases. It’s a huge delta in terms of the fairness of the proceedings here in the state, and it didn’t happen to be the law until this past year.

So, on day one when you are first charged after January 1st of this year, if you’re charged with a crime in the State of Texas your lawyer not only has the ability but the obligation and the right to obtain a copy of the offense report for the offense reports that are prepared in connection with your case as soon as practical. Any good lawyer knows that, any good lawyer should take advantage of that.

If you have any questions about that area of the law, if you’re charged with a crime and you have any questions at all, call us. We’re happy to help. Thank you for listening.

Michael Morton Act – Knowing Evidence Against You | Houston Criminal Laws

Dan Cogdell

Your right to know what the evidence against is in a Texas State case. Some people call it the Michael Morton Act. Hi, my name is Dan Cogdell. I’m a lawyer in Houston. I’ve been practicing law in Texas for 32 years.

Michael Morton Act

As of January 1st of this year 2014 the State of Texas enacted a law that provides defendants complete and full disclosure of the offense reports that are prepared in connection with the investigation into Texas criminal cases. That didn’t used to be the law in fact you’d never had until January 1st of this year. You didn’t have a right to a complete copy of the offense report. And what changed the law was Michael Morton.

Michael Morton was an individual who is wrongfully convicted of murder in Georgetown. He’s been I believe 16 years in prison for a crime, ultimately that was proven that he did not commit. The individual that was the DA at that time became a judge, that judge was last year’s sanction lost his bench and actually I think did ten days in jail for suppressing favorable evidence.

Offense Reports

That’s a long winded way of saying the law has changed in Texas. There’s actually been a sea-change in Texas in terms of an individual’s right for full and complete discovery in Texas criminal cases. It’s a huge delta in terms of the fairness of the proceedings here in the state, and it didn’t happen to be the law until this past year.

So, on day one when you are first charged after January 1st of this year, if you’re charged with a crime in the State of Texas your lawyer not only has the ability but the obligation and the right to obtain a copy of the offense report for the offense reports that are prepared in connection with your case as soon as practical. Any good lawyer knows that, any good lawyer should take advantage of that.

If you have any questions about that area of the law, if you’re charged with a crime and you have any questions at all, call us. We’re happy to help. Thank you for listening.