Consider the following hypothetical. Thomas Torton is married to Christine Torton and they have a three-year-old son and live in Dallas Texas. Thomas and Christine go to a restaurant to celebrate her birthday. The next morning, Thomas leaves a note on the vanity expressing disappointment that they had a fight the previous evening. He left for work at 5:30 am. Later that morning, Christine, Thomass wife, was found dead in her bed having been bludgeoned to death with what appeared to be a weapon made of wood.
The day after Christines body was found, police recovered a bloody bandana found at a construction site located about 100 yards from the Torton home. Christines mother told the police that the Tortons son, Eric, had been present during the murder. Eric had told his grandmother that the murderer was not Thomas but a monster. He described the crime scene and murder in detail and specifically said that his Daddy was not home when the murder occurred. None of this evidence was provided to the Defense for trial.
Upon questioning the Tortons neighbors, police were told that a man, not Thomas , had repeatedly parked a green van on the street behind the Tortons house and walked off into a nearby wooded area. Police records also indicated that Christine Tortons missing credit card had possibly been recovered in a San Antonio, Texas jewelry store, and that a San Antonio officer stated that he could identify the woman who had attempted to use the card. None of this evidence was provided to the Defense for trial.
When defense attorneys learned that the prosecution did not plan to call Sergeant Don Woods, the chief investigator in the case, to the stand, they suspected that the prosecution might be concealing potentially exculpatory evidence. The defense raised this concern with the trial judge, who ordered the prosecution to turn over all reports by Sergeant Woods so that he could conduct a thorough review. Evidence concerning Erics eyewitness account, information on the bloody bandana, the green van, and Christine Tortons credit card were all absent from the records given to the judge.
The prosecution presented no witnesses or physical evidence that tied Torton to the crime, but they hypothesized that he had beaten Christine to death because they got into a fight. On February 17, 1987, Thomas Torton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. 25 years later Tortons attorney files a motion and learns of the above evidence. She requests DNA testing of the bandana which shows DNA from Christine and an unknown male. The unknown males DNA is run through CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, which reveals it is a match to one Mark Norwood. Mark Norwood is currently incarcerated for killing a woman, Tammy Smith, by bludgeoning her to death with a wooden bat in her bed while her toddler son was in the house. That crime took place two years after the murder of Christine Torton. Based on the newly found evidence, Thomas Torton was eventually exonerated by DNA.
2A. Based on the scenario above, who were all of the victims of the prosecutor’s actions in this case and how were they victimized? 28 points (potential 32+) A thorough and complete answer will consist of at least 250 words
2B. What is Brady Material? What evidence in the above example would qualify as Brady material? Describe why after each item. (30 points) A thorough and complete answer will consist of at least 250 words
2C. Do you think the prosecutor was driven by a deontological or teleological system of ethics? Why? Include the definition of the ethical system you chose in your answer. A thorough and complete answer will be at least 150 words (17 points)
2D. What would be the appropriate consequences for the prosecutor based on their actions in this case and why? A thorough and complete answer will be at least 150 words (15 points)
July 10th, 2020 
