The Texas Tribune analyzed 86 overturned convictions, finding that in nearly one quarter of those cases courts ruled that prosecutors made mistakes that often contributed to the wrong outcome. This multi-part series explores the causes and consequences of prosecutorial errors and whether reforms might prevent future wrongful convictions.
[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignleft" width="150"]Michael Morton[/caption]There’s no balancing of the books when you lose two and a half decades of your life to prison, Michael Morton says. He can’t make up for missing his son Eric’s childhood while he was stuck behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit.
Kirk Odom served 20 years in prison for a rape he never committed. He was released in 2003 after serving his sentence and nine years later, on July 10, 2012, prosecutors acknowledge that he was in fact innocent and convicted based on erroneous FBI forensics.