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Michael Morales
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Born
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October 17, 1959
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Nationality
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American
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Criminal penalty
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Execution by lethal injection
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Criminal status
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On death row at San Quentin State Prison
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Conviction(s)
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Rape, murder – April 1983
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Michael Angelo Morales (born October 17, 1959) is a convicted murderer who was
scheduled to be executed by the State of California at 7:30 p.m. on February
21, 2006. Two hours before the scheduled execution, the State of California
notified the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that they could not comply with a
lower federal judge's ruling that the execution must be carried out by a
medical professional due to the chemical used in the execution. Consequently,
California has indefinitely suspended Morales' execution. The case subsequently
led to a moratorium on capital punishment in California entirely, as the only
legal method of execution must be carried out with the participation of a
licensed physician, who are ethically prohibited from participating in
executions.
Death
of Terri Winchell
Michael
Morales was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Terri Winchell on January 8,
1981. Winchell was in a love triangle with Richard Ortega, a cousin of
Morales, and another man. Ortega hired Morales to kill Winchell so that Ortega
could have exclusive relations with his male lover. According to prosecutors,
Morales attacked Winchell from behind and tried to strangle her with his belt.
Morales then hit her head with a hammer, beating her into unconsciousness, and
crushing the victim's skull. Morales then dragged Winchell face-down across the
road and into a vineyard, where he raped her and stabbed her four times in the
chest. Winchell died from both the head and chest wounds.
Trial and appeals
Morales
has not denied that he committed the crime. His defense team argued, however,
that since he was high on PCP at the time, the murder does not qualify for the
"special circumstances" required against California state law for the
death penalty. Morales' defense argued that the crime was not premeditated,
despite the fact that he had told Ortega that he would defend him. The
prosecution countered with evidence showing that Morales gathered tools before
the encounter, practiced strangulation on two female acquaintances, and
confessed to an informant while in jail.
Charles
McGrath, the judge who originally sentenced Morales to execution, has announced
that he has had a change of heart in the case. He now says he now doubts the testimony
of an informant against Morales. Notably, the informant claimed that Morales
confessed to him in Spanish, a language Morales does not speak. McGrath asked
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant Morales clemency under state law. In
addition, Morales has claimed that he has found God in prison, and regrets the
crime that he committed.
In
early 2006, lead defense attorney David Senior hired former Whitewater special
prosecutor Kenneth Starr to be one of Morales' attorneys on the appeals. Immediately
prior to Morales' execution date, Senior filed papers claiming that five out of
the 12 jurors had doubts about sentencing him to death. However, prosecutors
alleged that the documents were forgeries, and accused investigator and
anti-death penalty activist Kathleen Culhane of falsifying the documents.
Senior and his team soon withdrew the documents. Ultimately, clemency was
denied, but the falsified documents were not used in the rationale. Eventually,
Culhane was criminally charged with forging the documents and, under a plea
agreement, was sentenced to five years in prison. At her sentencing hearing,
Culhane refused to express remorse to the State of California, stating her acts
were crimes of conscience against Morales' execution and the death penalty.
Postponed
execution
Morales'
original execution date of February 21, 2006, was postponed as a result of two
court-appointed anesthesiologists withdrawing from the procedure. This is the
first death row inmate extant since a judge ruled that the current combination
of drugs may cause severe pain, as corroborated by an April 2005 study
published in The Lancet. The doctors cited ethical reasons for the
decision to withdraw. They had been ordered by the court to intervene in the
event Morales woke up or appeared to be in pain. Since both doctors withdrew,
California planned to overdose Morales on intravenous barbiturates, the only
other option allowed by the court.
The
judge further ruled that the barbiturates could only be administered by a
"licensed medical professional," meaning a doctor, nurse or other
medical technician legally authorized to administer I.V. medications. Since all
such medical personnel are bound by professional ethics against performing an
execution, this ruling virtually assured that the execution could not take
place. Having failed to find a medical professional willing to carry out the
execution, California decided it could not comply with the judge's decision and
would allow the death warrant to lapse. The death warrant will now have to be
re-issued by the original trial judge, Charles McGrath, who has indicated that
he no longer believes testimony from the 1982 trial and asked for clemency for
Morales.
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