April 25
CALIFORNIA:
S.J. killers appeals nearly exhausted----Morales, who raped, murdered girl
in 1981, may be close to execution
Michael Angelo Morales, convicted of raping and killing a Stockton girl
more than 20 years ago, may be just months from execution.
Sentenced to death for murdering 17-year-old Terri Winchell in 1981,
Morales has nearly exhausted every appeal. If executed, he will be the 1st
San Joaquin County man put to death in 43 years.
The last hope for the 45-year-old killer lies with the U.S. Supreme Court
and in David Senior, his attorney. Senior is preparing to send the case
for its final appeal and is preparing arguments to deliver before the
justices next month. He remains optimistic but noted odds are slim the
high court will hear Morales case among the large volume it receives.
"They take 1 percent or less," Senior said in a telephone interview last
week from his Los Angeles office. "You do the math."
The Supreme Court will decide in early October if it will review or reject
Morales case. If rejected, execution by lethal injection could follow
within two months, putting Morales last days as early as December.
Only a governors stay of execution could halt Morales death sentence,
something death row watchers say hasnt happened in California for a long
time.
Meanwhile, Morales remains in his cell on death row at San Quentin State
Prison, where hes been for 22 years.
On Jan. 8, 1981, Winchell, a Tokay High School senior, left home to get
food from a restaurant and told her mother, who was sick in bed, that shed
be back within an hour, according to papers filed with the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Two days later, police found Winchells body, nude from the waist down, in
a vineyard on the outskirts of Lodi.
Court papers said she was struck with a hammer six times on the side of
her head and suffered 17 blows to the back of her head, among other
bruises and stab wounds.
Police arrested Morales and his cousin, Rick Ortega, and charged them with
Winchells murder.
According to court testimony, Morales killed Winchell as a favor to
Ortega, who was jealous of Winchell because she dated Randy Blythe, a
young man with whom Ortega had a homosexual relationship.
Investigators recovered a bloody hatchet from the vegetable crisper of the
refrigerator in Morales house. Other evidence found was a knife and a
broken belt that Morales used to try to strangle her.
The case drew such intense local interest that it was moved to Ventura
County for trial.
The jury convicted Morales of 1st-degree murder with premeditation,
including special circumstances - intentional killing by torture and by
lying in wait - and returned a verdict for the death penalty.
Ortega was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in
1983.
No convict from San Joaquin County has been executed since 1962, when
Elbert L. Carter, the son of a Stockton minister, was put to death in
Californias gas chamber. He was convicted in the murder of a Stockton
police officer.
Morales wont be the next one if Senior can help it. To keep Morales from
execution, Senior argues that former San Joaquin County Deputy District
Attorney Bernard Garber presented false evidence in the trial through a
jailhouse snitch.
Senior said Garber, now a San Joaquin County Superior Court judge, made a
secret deal with Bruce Samuelson in exchange for Samuelsons testimony.
Samuelson and Morales were in the County Jail together. Samuelson said
Morales told him about the killing.
It was that testimony that secured the special circumstance needed to win
the death sentence, Senior argues.
For his testimony, Senior said, Garber agreed to dismiss some felony
charges pending against Samuelson and worked a deal to have him serve jail
time rather than years in state prison.
"Garber then hid this deal from Morales attorney, the judge and the jury,"
Senior said.
A problem with Samuelsons testimony, Senior said, is that Samuelson said
he spoke in Spanish with Morales to conceal their conversation from other
inmates. Morales doesnt speak Spanish, Senior said.
"The buck stops with Garber," Senior said. "District Attorney Garber
failed to correct this false testimony."
Garber declined to comment for this story, citing judicial ethics. Craig
Holmes, Morales public defender and now assistant district attorney in San
Joaquin County, also declined to comment because the case is still in
appeal.
"Things are never over till theyre over," Holmes said.
A spokesman for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, however,
dismissed Seniors argument. Lockyers office is pressing for Morales
execution. Every court that has heard Seniors argument has rejected it,
Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said.
"Its based on wild conjecture and speculation, not supported by the
evidence," Barankin said. "The death penalty is an appropriate
punishment."
Relatives of Winchell could not be reached for comment.
Linda Starr, a Santa Clara University law professor and legal director of
the Innocence Project of Northern California, said prosecutors use
jailhouse informants when they dont have anything else. Starr isnt
familiar with the Morales case but said jailhouse snitches are inherently
suspect.
"Theyre not motivated by altruism," Starr said. "Theyre trying to help
themselves."
Morales only other option is for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to step in and
commute the sentence of death, said Linda Carter, a McGeorge School of Law
professor. Carter, who wasnt familiar with Morales case, said Ronald
Reagan in 1967 was the last California governor to commute a death
sentence.
"It certainly always is a possibility," she said, "but its definitely not
a probability."
(source: The Recorder)
