-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: A History of BOLDNESS
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a thumbs-up as he addresses the California Republican Party winter convention in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. Schwarzenegger said he will continue to push for government reforms but called on skeptical members of his own party to stop fighting and start leading.
Los Angeles Times: Gov. Tries to Soothe GOP Discontent
At the opening of the state party convention, Schwarzenegger touts his conservative side and boldness. His pitches win over some.Seeking to calm an uprising among conservatives, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began sketching a rationale for his reelection for fellow Republicans on Friday by portraying himself as a bold leader who can rise above partisan squabbling to meet California’s critical needs.
The Governor understands that with California Republican registration at 35 % that he must appease the GOP activists while appealing to moderate voters. Arnold has never been a conservative and it is obvious that he is ill at ease speaking before this conservative GOP constituency.
The governor reminded 650 Republicans of the times he has stuck to a conservative line: slashing the car tax, rejecting calls for higher income taxes, blocking a move to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. But in a hotel ballroom dinner speech opening the state party’s weekend convention, Schwarzenegger also confronted conservative outrage at his vast new public-works spending proposal, arguing to delegates that it fits Republican traditions dating to the Civil War.
Schwarzenegger is laughable at citing the car tax and driver’s licenses for illegals as his conservative achievements. He would NEVER have been able to RECALL Gray Davis if he did not impose Davis’s illegal resumption of this punitive tax. Likewise, in his veto statement Arnold hedged on the rationale for NOT granting illegal aliens driver’s licenses.
And comparing himself to Lincoln and the Civil War? Who is his speech writer?
“We Republicans have a history of boldness,” Schwarzenegger said in an address punctuated by frequent cheers and applause. “I love that. Abraham Lincoln struck down slavery. Teddy Roosevelt fathered the environmental movement. Dwight D. Eisenhower built the interstate highway. And Ronald Reagan tore down the wall and defeated communism.
“This is a time in California’s history that calls for similar boldness.”
Schwarzenegger, you are NO Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower or Reagan. And your infrastructure bonding plan to enslave California taxpayers for decades is comparable to the interstate highway program?
How laughable is this?
The Governor’s 16 minute speech will do nothing to buttress him in polls with GOP voters.
Flap handicaps MOST California Republicans will stay home this fall.
Blogger reactions:
SactoDan: If We Don’t Build It, They Won’t Come- Schwarzenegger at the CAGOP ConventionRoseville Conservative Blog: Governator Comes Out Swinging!
Boi From Troy: Schwarzenegger’s Five R’s for 2006
Steve Frank: Lame Excerpts
John Fleishman: Arnold’s Speech – “Safe” but didn’t address GOP concerns
MSM:
Los Angeles Daily News: GOP to fight for Arnold, despite doubts
San Jose Mercury News: Schwarzenegger tells GOP it’s time to lead
Sacramento Bee: Governor pitches his building agenda
Ventura County Star: Governor seeks unity from state GOP
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Keynote Address Tonight to California Republican PartyArnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New PPIC Poll Shows Schwarzenegger’s Republican Support Falling
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: “What Does Arnold Schwarzenegger Believe in?â€Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Latest Survey USA Poll NOT Favorable for California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Governor to Push Global Warming Fight
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy Paid by Cadiz Real Estate
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New Politically Diverse Campaign Team Set for Governor’s Reelection
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Fundraiser with the Governor Nets Orange County Sheriff Carona $700,000
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, California, CaliforniaElection2006, CRP, CaliforniaRepublicanParty, CaliforniaRepublicanAssembly, CRA
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Keynote Address Tonight to California Republican Party
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulls on a pipe valve to stop the flow of fake red ink during a news conference at Cal Expo in Sacramento, Calif., in this file photo taken Wedensday, Feb. 23, 2005. Schwarzenegger used the event to call on lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment that automatically cuts state spending across the board if spending execeeds state revenues. In January, 2006, Schwarzenegger announced his Strategic Growth Plan, a proposal to spend $68 billion for a state infrastructure bond plan. After executing a variety of political cartwheels to the right and left, Schwarzenegger is struggling to re-establish the centrist appeal that helped elect him to office in 2003.
ASSociated Press: Schwarzenegger to Give Keynote Address
After a year in which he lurched right, then left, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faces an early crossroad in his re-election campaign for governor.
The Hollywood star-turned-politician is scheduled to give the keynote speech Friday at the state Republican Party winter convention in San Jose — even as conservatives openly question why they should support him.
“When you look at the gyrations in his policies, it appears he’s plagued by an absence of core values,” said longtime Republican strategist Arnold Steinberg. “He comes across as a caricature, where energy and enthusiasm are confused with core values.”
Look for Schwarzenegger to throw some “RED MEAT” at the Republican activists to placate the California Republican Party enough to avoid a NON-ENDORSEMENT.
The only person rooting for Schwarzenegger this weekend is Democrat, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New PPIC Poll Shows Schwarzenegger’s Republican Support Falling
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: “What Does Arnold Schwarzenegger Believe in?â€Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Latest Survey USA Poll NOT Favorable for California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Governor to Push Global Warming Fight
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy Paid by Cadiz Real Estate
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New Politically Diverse Campaign Team Set for Governor’s Reelection
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Fundraiser with the Governor Nets Orange County Sheriff Carona $700,000
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, California, CaliforniaElection2006, CRP, CaliforniaRepublicanParty, CaliforniaRepublicanAssembly, CRA
-
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Postponed INDEFINITELY
Los Angeles Times: Killer’s Execution Is Postponed Indefinitely
Death row inmate Michael Morales’ execution was postponed this afternoon until at least May, after prison officials said they were unable to put the defendant to death under a new court-ordered lethal injection procedure.
This has been a CIRCUS from the start. And a set-up by the anti-death penalty biased federal judge, Jeremy Fogel. The judge set up a strawman and he was blown down after almost 25 years since the commission of this heinous murder.
Is the judge flaunting the will of California voters who voted to reinstate the California death penalty in 1978.
You bet.
But Fogel has lifetime tenure on the federal bench and is impervious to removal by impeachment.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel then said prison officials could proceed without the doctors, but would have to execute Morales with an overdose of sedatives, rather than the usual three-chemical lethal injection “cocktail,” which had been challenged as excessively painful.
The judge also ordered that a licensed technician deliver the dose from the execution chamber; the cocktail had usually been administered by an “unseen hand” through an extended intravenous tube leading into another room.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Dane Gillette late today told the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which was considering Morales’ appeal of the new procedures, that his office would be unable to comply with the conditions.
Fogel will hold an evidentiary hearing on the new protocol, now scheduled for May 1.
This case will now drag on for months and maybe years – the death warrant expires at 12:01 AM Wednesday.
NO JUSTICE for Terri Lynn Winchell.
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Tonight?
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Delayed by Doctor Walk Out
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: United States Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency Petition
Michael Angelo Moreno Watch: State Agrees to Place Anesthesia Expert in Death Chamber
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Latest Survey USA Poll NOT Favorable for California Governor
The Latest Survey USA Poll is NOT favorable for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Has Arnold’s shift to the LEFT improved his poll numbers?
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing as Governor?
NOPE…….
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SurveyUSAPoll, California, CaliforniaElection2006
-
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Tonight?
******UPDATE******AP is reporting that the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals says the State of California has postponed the Morales execution INDEFINITELY.
Los Angeles Times: Killer’s Execution Is Postponed Indefinitely
The state has indefinitely postponed Tuesday’s planned execution of convicted killer Michael Morales because of a court battle and medical ethics questions surrounding the method of lethal injection.
The state notified federal court officials that it is unable to comply with a judge’s order to have a lethal overdose of barbiturate administered to Morales by a medical professional in the execution chamber, a spokeswoman for the federal courts told The Associated Press.
Morales, 46, was supposed have died at 12:01 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison for torturing, raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl 25 years ago. But it was delayed until at least Tuesday night because the anesthesiologists objected that they might have to advise the executioner if the inmate woke up or appeared to suffer pain.
Prison officials planned to press forward with the execution on Tuesday night, skipping the usual paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs and killing him with an overdose of a sedative.
ASSociated Press: Calif. Execution Faces Indefinite Delay
The execution of a condemned killer was postponed early Tuesday after two anesthesiologists refused for ethical reasons to take part, and attorneys pursued a new round of court challenges that could delay the execution indefinitely.
Previously on Flap: Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Delayed by Doctor Walk Out
So, what is the FLAP with the anesthesiologists walking out?
The apparent sticking point was the physicians’ obligation, under procedures specified by a federal appeals court in a ruling Sunday, to intervene if Morales appeared to regain consciousness or displayed signs of pain. The court said the anesthesiologists would then have to take steps to render the inmate unconscious or “otherwise alleviate the painful effects” of the drugs.
“Any such intervention would clearly be medically unethical,” the doctors said in a written statement today. “As a result, we have withdrawn from participation in this current process.”
So, the 9th Circuit essentially ordered the physicians to kill Morales if they thought he regained consciousness and/or was suffering. The original order by federal judge Jeremy Fogel was inane and was biased towards delay. Fogel ordered:
1. Fogel said state authorities can postpone the execution that’s set for next Tuesday and defend their current procedure in a two-day court hearing, starting May 2.
2. The State of California can substitute a barbiturate or combination of barbiturates for the three-drug series they currently plan on using.
3. The State of California can station an experienced anesthesiologist in the execution chamber to verify that Morales is unconscious when he’s supposed to be.
Now, San Quentin State Prison’s warden rescheduled the execution for tonight at 7:30 PM using option 2 as ordered.
Prison officials planned to press forward with the execution Tuesday night using the second option.
The judge approved that decision later Tuesday, but said the sedative must be administered by a person who is licensed by the state to inject medications intravenously, a group that includes doctors, nurses and other medical technicians.
Morales’ lawyers planned to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They also asked the California Supreme Court to block the execution.
The state’s conduct “is offensive to a decent respect for human dignity and repugnant to the conscience of mankind,” attorney David Senior Wrote.
State officials said they were unsure whether they would proceed.
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said prosecutors and prison officials were meeting to determine whether to go forward with the execution and “to consider other options.”
Flap is waiting to report any rulings from the 9th Circuit or California Supreme Court.
Stay tuned…….
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Delayed by Doctor Walk Out
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: United States Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency Petition
Michael Angelo Moreno Watch: State Agrees to Place Anesthesia Expert in Death Chamber
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection
-
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Delayed by Doctor Walk Out
San Francisco Chronicle: Killer’s execution rescheduled
Delay comes before doctors walk out; new lethal injection set for 7:30 p.m.
The execution of Michael Morales for the 1981 rape and murder of a teenage Lodi girl was postponed early today when two anesthesiologists balked at their court-ordered assignment to make sure Morales remained unconscious during the lethal injection.
San Quentin State Prison’s warden quickly rescheduled the execution for 7:30 tonight by eliminating the anesthesiologists’ role and ordering that Morales be put to death with one drug, the powerful barbiturate sodium pentothal, instead of the three that the state has used since 1996. A federal judge had given the state that option but officials had previously rejected it, because it would take an estimated 30 to 45 minutes to kill the inmate instead of the usual eight to 10 minutes.
This delay of execution is BS and delays the justice for Terri Lynn Winchell heinous murder.
Morales should have been executed this morning and the last minute “TAMPERING AND MANIPULATION” of the legal system is to blame.
The voters of California have overwhelmingly voted to restore the death penalty (through the Briggs Initiative). The California and federal courts have done nothing but obstruct and hinder the law for decades. The California Death Penalty Process is BROKEN.
So, what is the FLAP with the anesthesiologists walking out?
The apparent sticking point was the physicians’ obligation, under procedures specified by a federal appeals court in a ruling Sunday, to intervene if Morales appeared to regain consciousness or displayed signs of pain. The court said the anesthesiologists would then have to take steps to render the inmate unconscious or “otherwise alleviate the painful effects” of the drugs.
“Any such intervention would clearly be medically unethical,” the doctors said in a written statement today. “As a result, we have withdrawn from participation in this current process.”
So, the 9th Circuit essentially ordered the physicians to kill Morales if they thought he regained consciousness and/or was suffering. The original order by federal judge Jeremy Fogel was inane and was biased towards delay. Fogel ordered:
1. Fogel said state authorities can postpone the execution that’s set for next Tuesday and defend their current procedure in a two-day court hearing, starting May 2.
2. The State of California can substitute a barbiturate or combination of barbiturates for the three-drug series they currently plan on using.
3. The State of California can station an experienced anesthesiologist in the execution chamber to verify that Morales is unconscious when he’s supposed to be.
Now, San Quentin State Prison’s warden rescheduled the execution for tonight at 7:30 PM using option 2 as ordered.
However, there are a couple of wrinkles in the case:
1. No doubt there will be appeals to this option 2 today – asking the federal court for the May 2nd Hearing or a later one. They will ask the court for the hearing due to the unusual and cruel nature of this mornings last minute delay.
2. No doubt there will be a request for an evidentiary hearing stating that option two by barbituates is “cruel and unusual punishment.” Look for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to weigh in here.
3. The “Death Warrant” expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. If the execution is not carried out before then, a Superior Court judge would have no more than 60 days to set another execution date. And would that warrant be easy to obtain, since the Ventura County trial judge, Charles McGrath has repudiated his sentence?
Flap is NOT optimistic that Terri Lynn Winchell will receive JUSTICE today.
Stay tuned…….
Death penalty opponent Frank Guerrero holds up a sign and a Mexican flag at the front gate of San Quentin Prison in San Quentin, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, before the scheduled execution of Michael Morales, which was delayed until Tuesday night after two anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns. Guerrero says he is a close personal friend of Morales, who is Mexican-American.
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: United States Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency Petition
Michael Angelo Moreno Watch: State Agrees to Place Anesthesia Expert in Death Chamber
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection
-
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: United States Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales Execution
San Francisco Chronicle: High court won’t halt execution
The U.S. Supreme Court this afternoon refused to halt the execution of condemned murderer Michael Morales, shooting down the 46-year-old’s last chance to escape a death planned for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison.
Justice Anthony Kennedy reviewed Morales’ case and sent it to the full court, which denied the prisoner’s final appeal at 6:29 p.m. EST, a U.S. Supreme Court spokesman said.
None of the justices commented further in the decision.
The ruling came after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Sunday denied his request to put off his death by lethal injection. The Ninth Circuit ruled that an anesthesiologist who will be in the death chamber to monitor Morales’ consciousness — as ordered last week by a lower court — can and will ensure he feels no pain when the drugs seeking to paralyze him and stop his heart begin to flow.
The Victim, Terri Lynn Winchell:
The Scene of the Terri Lynn Winchell’s murder:
The San Francisco Chronicle’s account of the case: LOVE TRIANGLE GONE VICIOUS
READ IT ALL…..The young brother of Terri Lynn Winchell asking for justice:
Brian Chalk, brother of murder victim Terri Lynn Winchell, and his brothers plan to witness the execution of Michael Morales.
The United States Supreme Court has denied Morale’s last judicial appeal. But, Kenneth Starr, the Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law, Malibu, has again filed a clemency request for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
With his execution just hours away, one of Morales’ attorneys, former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, pleaded for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency.
Schwarzenegger has already denied clemency to Morales, and it is not unusual for inmates to ask again as their execution looms. Starr, as in his first petition for clemency, noted that the trial judge in Morales’ case had urged Schwarzenegger to show mercy.
Starr said that the 13 times in which that happened in California’s history, the presiding governor granted a reprieve.
“Overriding such opinions,” Starr wrote, “is not only tantamount to thumbing one’s nose at the well-reasoned decision of the trial judge, it shows what will reasonably be viewed as disrespect for our system of government and our respective roles in that great and enduring system.”
A Schwarzenegger spokesman said the governor would respond soon.
Well, it looks ike the “BIG JAB” for Morales at midnight – barring a last minute grant of clemency by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Flap handicaps Schwarzenegger thumbs his nose at Dean Kenneth Starr and former Ventura County Judge Charles McGrath.
Judge Charles R. McGrath says death sentence was based on false testimony from a jailhouse informant
No Clemency.
Justice for Terri Lynn Winchell!
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency Petition
Michael Angelo Moreno Watch: State Agrees to Place Anesthesia Expert in Death Chamber
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Governor to Push Global Warming Fight
San Francisco Chronicle: Governor to push global warming fight – Bold policy gambits expected in bid to lower greenhouse gases
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration is expected this month to release a plan to combat global warming that recommends raising petroleum prices and requiring industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions.
The increase in gas prices would fund research into alternative fuels.
First, the infrastructure bonds and now more “TAX AND SPEND” politics from Governor Schwarzenegger/Shriver/Kennedy.
Flap thought Arnold was an independent thinker?
Proven wrong again……..
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Republican Assembly Drops Bid to Pull Republican Pre-primary Endorsement
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy Paid by Cadiz Real Estate
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New Politically Diverse Campaign Team Set for Governor’s Reelection
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Fundraiser with the Governor Nets Orange County Sheriff Carona $700,000
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, California, CaliforniaElection2006, CRP, CaliforniaRepublicanParty, CaliforniaRepublicanAssembly, CRA
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Republican Assembly Drops Bid to Pull Republican Pre-primary Endorsement
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses local community and business leaders in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, about his strategic growth plans for the California economy.
Orange County Register: GOP group drops effort to pull Schwarzenegger backing
The influential California Republican Assembly over the weekend dropped its bid to yank the GOP pre-primary-endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, effectively leaving the measure dead in the water.
Republican activists Monday dropped their bid to get the state GOP to yank its endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a measure that for weeks had divided many party loyalists and made others uncomfortable.
Instead, Schwarzenegger opponents within the GOP will focus on getting the party, at its upcoming convention in San Jose, to pass four other resolutions addressing the governor’s recent spending proposals and judicial appointments.
There were NOT the votes to yank the endorsement from the Governor. Also, who would replace him? The California Republican bench is very thin in 2006.
Flap handicaps a very contentious Republican election cycle in 2006.
Will mainstream California Republican voters even bother to vote for Governor Schwarzenegger?
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy Paid by Cadiz Real Estate
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: New Politically Diverse Campaign Team Set for Governor’s Reelection
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Fundraiser with the Governor Nets Orange County Sheriff Carona $700,000
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, California, CaliforniaElection2006, CRP, CaliforniaRepublicanParty, CaliforniaRepublicanAssembly, CRA
-
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Lawyers Withdraw Allegedly Faked Juror Statements Supporting Their Clemency Bid
Los Angeles Times: Killer’s Legal Team Backs Off in Dispute
- Lawyers for death row inmate Michael Morales have withdrawn allegedly faked juror statements supporting their clemency bid.
Attorneys for death row inmate Michael Morales on Monday withdrew affidavits from jurors urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop the defendant’s execution amid allegations that the defense documents were forgeries.
The defense team, led by former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr and David Senior, did not concede the forgery allegations, made last week by the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office. But Senior said defense investigator Kathleen Culhane was “off the case, and anything she touched is out of the case.”Attorneys for death row inmate Michael Morales on Monday withdrew affidavits from jurors urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop the defendant’s execution amid allegations that the defense documents were forgeries.
The defense team, led by former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr and David Senior, did not concede the forgery allegations, made last week by the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office. But Senior said defense investigator Kathleen Culhane was “off the case, and anything she touched is out of the case.”
Prosecutors Allege Morales Defense Faked Clemency LettersSan Francisco Chronicle: Death Row inmate’s lawyers accused – Statements believed to be from jurors are alleged forgeries
Washington Post: Jurors’ Clemency Appeals Reportedly Fake
The Case:
Morales was sentenced to death in 1983 for the murder of Terri Winchell, a 17-year-old Lodi high school senior. He is scheduled to die Feb. 21 by lethal injection, although a federal judge in San Jose is expected to rule as soon as today on a challenge to the method as cruel and unusual punishment.
Prosecutors argued that Morales committed the murder in an alcohol- and drug-induced hallucinogenic frenzy at the request of his cousin, who was angry at Winchell because she had seduced the cousin’s male lover.
A jailhouse informant named Bruce Samuelson testified that Morales had bragged during a jailhouse conversation that he had planned to rape and kill Winchell. A 12-member jury unanimously convicted Morales, now 46, and recommended execution. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath sentenced him to death.
Flap handicaps that ANY chance Morales had for clemency died with this latest revelation.
Stay tuned for today’s ruling by the federal court and a possible stay….
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection