Governor refuses Michael Morales clemency reconsideration - U.S. Supreme Court denies stay of execution

Michael Morales
California Department of Corrections photo

By Melissa McRobbie, Bay City News Service

February 20, 2006, 6:45 p.m.

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 of the attorneys representing Morales, wrote to the governor asking him to rethink his decision, citing reasons including that the judge who sentenced Morales now opposes his impending execution. Starr sent Schwarzenegger a follow-up letter on the matter today.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m. today, Schwarzenegger issued a statement denying Starr's request.

The governor did not make any further comments on the case, except to reiterate that every clemency decision "is made only after consideration of all the circumstances and careful deliberation.''

Schwarzenegger's reply to Starr's request has likely sealed Morales' fate, as his legal options appear to have been exhausted.

This afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court denied two requests by attorneys for Morales for a stay of execution.

The appeals involved two different arguments regarding the attorneys' allegations that California's current lethal injection process is unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment, and that a key prosecution witness lied at Morales' 1983 trial.

Morales' attorneys were not available for comment about the Supreme Court's rejection of their appeals.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, said he is not aware of any pending legal actions by Morales' attorneys.

"There are no more legal appeals outstanding,'' Barankin said.

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