SAN ANGELO, Texas, March 28 (UPI) -- A quarter-century after a Texas man was wrongly convicted of killing his wife, another man was found guilty of the crime Wednesday.
Mark Norwood was immediately given a life sentence for the murder of Christine Morton, the Austin American-Statesman reported. He faces another trial for allegedly killing Debra Baker in her Austin home in 1988, two years after Morton died.
Michael Morton, who was released in 2011, called the guilty verdict a "mixed bag." He hugged Norwood's mother and brother outside the courtroom.
"It's not a celebration," he said. "It's not a happy day."
The trial was moved out of Williamson County in the Austin area where the Mortons lived in 1986 and where the district attorney who prosecuted Morton is now a judge to San Angelo, county seat of Tom Green County.
Connie Hoff said her brother was "railroaded" by Judge Burt Garnes' ruling that allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence linking Norwood to the Baker killing. Garnes said the two crimes were so much alike that it was reasonable to determine one killer was responsible for both.
The most striking piece of evidence against Norwood was a bloody bandana found behind the Morton house. DNA testing determined Morton's blood was not on it, although his wife's was, and blood from another person was eventually matched to Norwood.
Norwood could be paroled after serving 15 years under Texas 1986 law.
