Every court that has reviewed this case has been struck by certain aspects of the trial and actions of prosecutors that violate the fundamental notions of fair play on which our legal system is based. For example, the Iowa District Court for Polk County, addressing Morales’s application for post-conviction relief, found prosecutor Hanes’s instruction to withhold medical records from the defense team prior to the second autopsy “suspicious at best” ....

The treating surgeon has now recanted his trial testimony, at least to the extent of placing any reliance on the opinions of the Medical Examiner [Bennett, Hanes’s then-husband]. Defense counsel failed ... to make an adequate offer of proof regarding the romantic relationship between a prosecutor [Hanes] and the Medical Examiner [Bennett].