Summary Of Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story

One of the issues currently in the Texas justice system is a miscarriage of justice. A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. In the film, Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, it is shown that Mr. Morton was given an unfair trial, which led to his conviction for a crime he did not commit. During Mr. Morton’s trial, then-district attorney Ken Anderson had refused to call on chief investigator Don Wood to the witness stand because he did not want to turn over key documents in Mr. Wood’s file to Mr. Morton’s defense lawyer. A specific file that could have helped Mr. Morton’s case was a transcript of a conversation that chief investigator Don Wood had with Mr. Morton’s mother-in-law, Rita Kirkpatrick. During the conversation, Rita was telling investigator Don Wood the story her grandson, Michael Morton’s son, Eric, had told her. While Eric was recalling what he had witnessed, Rita asked him a key question, “Where was Daddy, Eric? Was Daddy there?” to which Eric had answered, “No, Mommy and Eric was there.” Had Mr. Morton's defense lawyer had access to those documents, they could have proven Mr. Morton innocent, found the real suspect, and spared 25 years of Mr. Morton's life. However, because there was no evidence given that hinted to Mr. Morton’s innocence, he was sentenced to life in prison.

The Texas criminal justice system has always had a reputation for being ruthless when convicting felons and we have seemed to have kept up that reputation. Many Texans believe in the phrase, “do the crime, do the time,” and will often send perpetrators to prison for minute offenses. At first that may have seemed like the best solution with what to do with these defendants, however, too many are being convicted too quickly and are now overcrowding Texas prisons. Many of those who see the problem with the overcrowding are calling for