Recent News:
Feb. 23, 2006: Execution delay amounts to moratorium. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2274&t=
Feb. 22, 2006: Doctors' Doubts Put Off Calif. Execution. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2264&t=
Feb. 21, 2006: California execution delayed as doctors walk out. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2254&t=
Feb. 21, 2006: CA: Joe Nation Calls for Death Penalty Moratorium. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2267&t=
Feb. 21, 2006: No 'Humane' Way to Take A Life Says Amnesty International USA. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2268&t=
Feb. 21, 2006: Judge sets conditions for Morales execution. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2270&t=
Feb. 21, 2006: California execution delayed as doctors walk out. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2254&t=
Feb. 20, 2006: Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales’s Execution. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2258&t=
Feb. 15, 2006: California: Change in Lethal Injections Ordered by U.S. Judge. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2245&t=
Feb. 15, 2006: The lethal effect of snitches. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2248&t=
Feb. 11, 2006: California Judge Open to Hearing Lethal-Injection Debate. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2232&t=
Feb. 9, 2006: Federal Judge indicates he may block Morales’s execution. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2222&t=
Feb. 8, 2006: A Death Sentence Built on a Lie -- Morales Deserves Clemency. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2213&t=
Feb. 7, 2006: 6 Jurors Urge Sparing of Morale’s Life, Echoing the trial judge. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2208&t=
Jan. 30, 2006: Judge Requests Clemency for the Person He Condemned. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2145&t=
Jan. 30, 2006: Starr Asks Schwarzenegger to Spare Morales. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2146&t=
Jan. 26, 2006: Kenneth Starr to Aid Morales in Clemency Request. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2134&t=
Jan. 26, 2006: Morales files a motion questioning lethal injection. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2131&t=
Jan. 26, 2006: Florida case may postpone execution. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2121&t=
Jan. 26, 2006: Supreme Court accepts lethal-injection case. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/26/MNGPEGT4BH1.DTL
Jan. 21, 2006: Death row inmate says execution is unconstitutional. http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060121/NEWS10/601210334/1024
Do Not Execute Michael Morales!
Michael Morales, a 46-year-old Latino man, is scheduled to be executed on Feb. 21 for the 1981 murder of Terri Winchell. Morales, along with cousin and co-defendant Rick Ortega, raped Winchell and beat her to death in retaliation for her having a romantic relationship with Ortega’s lover. The crime occurred in San Joaquin County, but the trial was held in Ventura County due to the amount of pre-trial coverage. Morales was 21 years old at the time of the crime.
There are a number of issues surrounding Morales’s trial that raise serious questions about his guilt and whether or not the death penalty is appropriate for him under California law. One piece of evidence that seems especially troubling is the confession that Morales is alleged to have made to prison informant Bruce Samuelson. Morales argues that he never made such a confession, going on to claim that Samuelson was strategically placed in order to secure evidence against Morales, and that this all was concealed at trial. What’s more, nobody heard Morales make this alleged confession: neither other prisoners, nor guards who routinely listen in via intercom. Samuelson claims that he and Morales spoke in Spanish in order to avoid being overheard, not realizing that Morales did not speak Spanish! Finally, an FBI polygraph interviewer who tested Samuelson years after the trial determined that Samuelson lied about Morales’s confession. Yet in spite of all of this, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant Morales any sort of relief. The Court argued that because there was no evidence that the prosecutor knew of Samuelson’s perjury, there was no violation of Morales’s right to a fair trial. The same rationale was used to deny Morales relief when it was revealed that another witness against him had been lying. Because the prosecutor was not aware of the witness’s dishonesty, there was no due process violation. However, whether the prosecutor was aware of these witnesses’ lies or not, Morales was convicted with the aid of false information.
Another significant concern is whether the difference between finding Morales to have committed murder with the aggravating factor of “lying in wait” and with the special circumstance of “lying in wait” was clear to the jury. The aggravating factor elevates a murder charge to first-degree murder, while a special circumstance opens the door for sentences of life without parole and death. In a dissenting opinion, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge M. Margaret McKeown argued that the “lying in wait” special circumstance has become so broad as to include nearly every person on trial for murder. This expansive applicability of the death penalty would be unconstitutional. Furthermore, there was even confusion among the judges regarding when “lying in wait” is a special circumstance and when it is an aggravating factor, suggesting that the whole distinction is far too delicate for a jury to hang a human life upon.
Michael Morales was convicted with the help of two lying witnesses. He was sentenced to death according to a sentencing scheme that even confuses judges. Certainly the doubt cast on Morales’s death sentence by these two facts makes execution of Morales unacceptable.
Please write Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting that he stop the execution of Michael Morales!
