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She allegedly fabricated statements by jurors, others to stop executions. A defense investigator fabricated dozens of statements from jurors and others in her quest to overturn death penalty sentences, lawyers for the attorney general's office said Wednesday.Kathleen Culhane, 40, of Petaluma was arraigned Wednesday on 45 felony counts of perjury, forgery and counterfeiting documents in front of Sacramento Superior Court Judge David Abbott."This could make people lose faith in the justice system," Michael Farrell, senior assistant attorney general, said after Culhane's arraignment. "She undermined the system."Farrell said the 23 false declarations submitted by Culhane in four death-penalty cases have been...

SAN FRANCISCO - An investigator who allegedly fabricated juror statements to win clemency for a death row inmate earlier this year is now suspected of submitting forged documents in at least three other cases involving condemned prisoners, the California Attorney General's Office said Friday. Agents with the state Department of Justice searched Kathleen Culhane's San Francisco apartment on Thursday seeking evidence that could be used to charge her with felony perjury, forgery and submitting false documents, according to court records. An affidavit filed in support of the search warrant said officials doubt the authenticity of at least 23 declarations Culhane...

Anyone curious about the motives of the federal judge who has temporarily put the brakes on executions in California should know this: Jeremy Fogel comes with plenty of personal biases. He leans decidedly toward the San Francisco Giants. He would probably rule in favor of the jazz stylings of pianist Keith Jarrett. And he's partial to the steam-poached salmon with Dijon beurre blanc when dining at Maddalena's in Palo Alto. His true feelings about the death penalty, however, are not up for discussion. ``My feeling is that it's constitutional,'' Fogel said this week in an interview with the Mercury News....

Morales was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Terri Lynn Winchell, a 17 year old Lodi Tokay High school senior. Terri was 17 and just months away from her high school graduation when she disappeared Jan. 8, 1981. The next day her body was found in a vieyard in Lodi. She had been strangled, hit 23 times in the head with a hammer, raped and stabbed in the chest. Morales was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Feb. 21, 2006. On Jan 27, 2006 Kenneth Starr formally asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare the life of...

Lethal injection blues By Mona CharenFeb 24, 2006 They found her body in a vineyard. Her purple sweater was pulled up revealing the knife protruding from her chest. Terri Lynn Winchell had been 17. It was 1981.Michael Morales, whose execution was indefinitely delayed last week, was convicted of her murder. It was established at trial that Morales, a gang member, had killed Winchell as a favor to his cousin, Rick Ortega. The Modesto Bee reported that Ortega, who knew Winchell's boyfriend, persuaded the girl to take a drive with him. When Winchell entered the car, she was introduced to Morales,...

Note: for those who haven't followed the story, this is the federal district judge in California who has ruled that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment because the murdering scumbag might suffer. Michael Morales had breakfast this morning. He will have lunch. He will have dinner. He will continue to breathe. Terri hasn't been able to do any of those things for over two decades. ========================================================================== Fogel, Jeremy D. Born 1949 in San Francisco, CA Federal Judicial Service:U. S. District Court, Northern District of CaliforniaNominated by William J. Clinton on September 8, 1997, to a seat vacated by Robert...

U.S. DISTRICT Judge Jeremy Fogel tried to find a commonsense way of addressing defense lawyers' arguments that convicted rapist/murderer Michael Morales might feel pain during his execution by lethal injection - scheduled for Feb. 21, but now postponed. He tried to do the right thing, and for that Fogel got snookered. Californians got snookered too. The state switched from poison gas in 1996 in order to make executions as painless as possible. Now defense lawyers have used that goal to postpone the execution of a man -- who raped, bludgeoned, strangled and knifed 17-year-old Terri Winchell -- because he might...

For hundreds of years, doctors have been involved in executions. But their efforts to get out of this grisly business put them on a collision course this week with a federal judge who ordered that they assist in killing a California inmate. "There's been an attempt to medicalize executions all the way back to the French Revolution," when Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin invented the guillotine as a humane method of death, said University of Minnesota bioethicist Dr. Steven Miles. "Doctors then got involved again in designing electrocution for the same reason in the United States," he said. "The medical profession has...

State attorneys seek authority for Morales execution using one drug By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service February 21, 2006, 11:42 a.m. SAN JOSE (BCN) - Lawyers for the state of California went back to a federal judge in San Jose this morning to seek authority for corrections officials to carry out an execution tonight using only one drug. The action followed the postponement early this morning of the execution of convicted murderer and rapist Michael Morales, who was originally scheduled to be put to death shortly after midnight. The execution was delayed after two anesthesiologists said they could not...

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. -- 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. Michael Morales, 46, was supposed to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. But the execution was put off until at least Tuesday night after the anesthesiologists objected that they might have to advise the executioner if the inmate woke up or appeared to suffer pain.

San Francisco - The execution of a man convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl was postponed Tuesday after two anaesthesiologists who were to ensure a painless death withdrew on ethical grounds. The execution of Michael Morales, 46, had been scheduled for 12.01 a.m. Tuesday after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. courts denied his final appeals. But the two anaesthesiologists cited concerns over a last-minute ruling by a judge who ordered them to intervene in the event that Morales woke up or appeared to be in pain from the administering of the lethal combination of drugs. "Any such intervention...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO - The state on Tuesday postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer amid a court battle over the state's method of lethal injection and the role doctors may play in the death chamber.</p> <p>State officials notified the federal courts they would be unable to comply with a judge's order to have a lethal dose of barbiturate administered to Michael Morales by a medical professional in the execution chamber, a spokeswoman for the federal courts told The Associated Press.</p>

Anesthesiologists Delay Calif. Execution By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 13 minutes ago SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - The planned execution of a man convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl was delayed until Tuesday night after two anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns. ADVERTISEMENT With the execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, defense lawyers requested a stay from the federal judge who last week ordered San Quentin State Prison to have an anesthesiologist on hand to minimize Michael Angelo Morales' pain as he was put to death by lethal injection. A second anesthesiologist was retained...

<p>In the hours before his execution at San Quentin State Prison, condemned inmate Michael Morales met only with his legal team and has been described by a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation official as "upbeat'' and "cooperative.''</p> <p>Morales, 46, was moved into what is known as the death watch cell at 6 p.m. today, according to CDC spokeswoman Elaine Jennings.</p>

SAN QUENTIN, California (Reuters) - The execution of a California man who raped and murdered an 17-year-old girl was delayed for at least 15 hours early on Tuesday because two court-appointed anesthesiologists walked off the job over ethical concerns. The doctors backed out when the language in an early-morning U.S. District Court ruling did not sufficiently allay their ethical concerns, San Quentin State prison spokesman Lt. Vernell Crittendon said. They were on hand after a court said the state must ensure the condemned man, Michael Morales, was in fact unconscious before a lethal injection was administered, thereby minimizing the pain...

SAN FRANCISCO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has denied a request by an attorney for condemned inmate Michael Morales that the governor reconsider granting Morales a clemency hearing. Morales, 46, was convicted of the 1981 sexual assault and murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi, and is scheduled to die by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Schwarzenegger announced Friday that he had decided not to grant clemency to Morales, stating, "Morales' claim that he is a changed man does not excuse the brutal murder and rape of Terri Winchell." On Sunday, Kenneth Starr, who is one...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the execution of convicted killer Michael Morales. Justice Anthony Kennedy reviewed the case, then sent it to the full court, which denied Morales' final appeal at 6:29 p.m. EST, according to court spokesman Ed Turner. "The court entered orders denying the request for stays of execution," he said. The Supreme court was the only legal option left for Morales, 46, who is scheduled to die from lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison for killing teenager Terri Winchell, of Lodi. He would become the...

San Francisco -- A California condemned prisoner who murdered, raped and tortured a girl 25 years ago moved a step closer to death when a federal appeals court dismissed on Sunday petitions seeking to block Tuesday's lethal injection. Barring a reprieve by the U.S. Supreme Court, where the case is to be appealed, Michael Morales, 46, is to become the 14th prisoner California has executed since voters reinstated capital punishment in 1978. It would be the third execution at San Quentin State Prison, located a few miles north of here, since the Dec. 13 injection of Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie...

Michael Morales is a death row inmate in California scheduled to die on February 21st. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel has ruled that an anesthesiologist must ensure that Mr. Morales is unconscious before the paralyzing agent and heart-stopping drug can be administered. Fogel said he would block the execution otherwise to "guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Constitution." How very considerate. Do you know why Mr. Morales is on death row? Let me tell you

San Francisco -- A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the state must change its lethal injection method in the execution of Michael Morales next week because the current mix of drugs may constitute cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose declined to immediately postpone the execution next Tuesday of Morales, but he ordered the state to either have an expert present to ensure he's unconscious from a sedative or replace a three-drug death potion with a lethal dose of barbiturate. Fogel said he was concerned inmates are conscious and undergoing extreme pain once a paralyzing...

Prosecutors of a Stockton man scheduled to be executed this month alleged for the second time Friday that his lawyers—one of them Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton—had submitted forged documents in support of their application for clemency. Attorneys for Michael Morales offered statements Tuesday from six of the 12 jurors who voted to sentence him to death in 1983, saying they now want Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare his life or that they would not object to clemency. But on Friday, the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office submitted statements from five of...

Prosecutors: Kenneth Starr, lawyer sent fake letters Lawyers: Bogus letters sent to governor asking to spare client's life Saturday, February 11, 2006; Posted: 3:18 p.m. EST (20:18 GMT) vert.starr.ap.jpg Kenneth Starr in a file photo. He was the special prosecutor in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Become a Paralegal Earn your paralegal degree online while keeping your own schedule. Accredited &... www.kaplan.edu Become a Paralegal Today Free information on how to earn your paralegal degree from FMU Online. Study at... www.fmuonline-degrees.com Paralegal Education Free info and links about becoming a paralegal - schools, degrees and more. www.infobeagle.com More Useful Links •...

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for a death row inmate, including former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, sent fake letters from jurors asking California's governor to spare the man's life, prosecutors said Friday. The jurors denied they thought Michael Morales deserved clemency because some of the testimony at his trial may have been fabricated, said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer. "We showed each person the declaration on their behalf and they all said they didn't say that," Barankin said. San Joaquin County prosecutor Charles Schultz also said the letters sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week were "untrue"...

San Francisco -- Lawyers for a death row inmate, including former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, sent fake letters from jurors asking California's governor to spare the man's life, prosecutors said Friday. The jurors denied they thought Michael Morales deserved clemency because some of the testimony at his trial may have been fabricated, said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer. "We showed each person the declaration on their behalf and they all said they didn't say that," Barankin said. San Joaquin County prosecutor Charles Schultz also said the letters sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week were "untrue"...

SAN FRANCISCO - Lawyers for a death row inmate, including former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, sent fake letters from jurors asking California’s governor to spare the man’s life, prosecutors said Friday. The jurors denied they thought Michael Morales deserved clemency because some of the testimony at his trial may have been fabricated, said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer. “We showed each person the declaration on their behalf and they all said they didn’t say that,” Barankin said. Story continues below ↓ advertisement San Joaquin County prosecutor Charles Schultz also said the letters sent to Gov. Arnold...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A federal judge is considering whether to block a murderer and rapist's Feb. 21 execution to provide enough time to determine whether lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. "People's confidence and integrity in the process might be assisted in having some kind of evidentiary proceeding," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said Thursday from the bench after an 80-minute hearing. He said he would rule by Tuesday. Lawyers for Michael Morales asked Fogel to block the looming execution amid claims lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment. Morales, 46, was condemned for raping and murdering a...

Morales' roommate says she did not withdraw testimony. Prosecutors opposing clemency for Michael Morales, scheduled to be executed Feb. 21 for the 1981 murder of a young woman near Lodi, accused his lawyers on Monday of fabricating a statement by a witness that purported to withdraw her trial testimony against Morales. In papers filed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Charles Schultz called the document submitted by Morales' lawyers last month "an outright forgery" and said it showed that none of the assertions in his appeal for clemency were believable. They backed up their claim with...

SAN FRANCISCO - Like so many other administrative complaints made by California prisoners, the one filed by Michael Angelo Morales this month is squeezed onto a one-page prison form. But Morales' message sounds an unusual note of urgency: "My execution by lethal injection is imminent and will be a cruel and unusual form of punishment." Morales has a Feb. 21 date in the death chamber for the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Lodi. In a neat script he explains his "grave concerns." He fears that pancuronium bromide, the second of three drugs administered in executions by California...

A judge set a Feb. 21 execution date Wednesday for a Stockton man convicted of murdering a 17-year-old girl in 1981. It would be California's third execution in three months. Michael Morales lost his final court appeal in October when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case. He can still seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Morales, now 56, was convicted of choking, beating and stabbing Terri Winchell to death in a remote area of San Joaquin County in January 1981. Prosecution witnesses said a cousin of Morales, Ricky Ortega, had learned Winchell was having an affair with...

SACRAMENTO - California's capital punishment debate -- ignited by the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams -- will likely intensify as the state prepares to carry out death sentences at a pace unseen in more than a generation. Williams, the quadruple murderer and co-founder of the Crips whose tale of redemption failed to spare his life last month, was the 12th inmate executed in California since voters reinstated capital punishment nearly three decades ago. In 2006, four inmates could enter the execution chamber, including the state's oldest death row resident, 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen, according to the state attorney general's office....

Morales brother pleads guilty He'll be sentenced in April for trying to blackmail Sanchez 01/31/2003 By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN - The brother of former state Attorney General Dan Morales pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to blackmail Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez out of $280,000 last fall. "We're here to stand up and accept full responsibility for this thing," said Michael Morales, 40, a San Antonio recording producer who faces a probable two-year federal prison sentence. "I look forward to my productive life of making music and getting this behind us." Moments earlier Mr. Morales...

Morales' brother makes deal in extortion case He'll admit Sanchez threats during campaign, probably serve 2 years 01/22/2003 By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN - The brother of former state Attorney General Dan Morales has agreed to plead guilty to a federal extortion charge that will probably result in a two-year prison sentence and could carry up to a $250,000 fine, his lawyer said Tuesday. Under the deal, music producer Michael Morales, 40, of San Antonio will admit he threatened to make allegations public about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez if the campaign of the Laredo...

Campaign extortion claim is investigated 01/05/2003 By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN - Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a brother of former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales attempted to extort between $200,000 and $300,000 from Democratic candidate Tony Sanchez during the governor's race last fall. Music producer Michael Morales, 40, has been identified by federal agents as the person who called Mr. Sanchez's campaign manager and threatened to make public an allegation that Mr. Sanchez committed a felony while a law student in San Antonio more than 30 years ago, sources speaking on condition of anonymity...