Morales to Petition Governor for Clemency (Ken Starr Representing him)

[The Straight Story]

Morales to Petition Governor for Clemency
Written for the web by Elizabeth Bishop, Internet News Producer


The next California death row inmate scheduled for execution will petition for clemency today. Convicted murderer Michael Morales is also appealing his death sentence, arguing lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge in San Jose heard his appeal Thursday.

Unless his appeal or plea for clemency is successful, Morales will be executed at San Quentin State Prison on February 21.

Morales is represented by Pepperdine Law School dean Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated former President Bill Clinton. Starr said he agreed to take the case because Morales has taken responsibility for the 1981 murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi. In the clemency petition, Starr plans to argue that Morales was convicted partly on the testimony of an unreliable jailhouse informant.

After a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said the state will need to address the constitutionality of its lethal injection procedure. Fogel decided to hear Morales' motion for a preliminary injunction on February 9.

http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=15592