From the Sacramento Bee:
California Case against execution trimmed
Morales’ lawyers concede doubts about juror declarations
Attorneys seeking clemency for condemned murderer Michael A. Morales have withdrawn from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s consideration six declarations in which jurors expressed reservations about the death penalty verdict they rendered 23 years ago.
Prosecutors charged last week that five of the declarations Morales’ attorneys filed under seal were fabrications, and the killer’s lawyers conceded in a letter Sunday to Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary that there are “substantial issues” surrounding the statements.
The declarations were obtained for Morales’ legal team by a private investigator that the state attorney general’s office identified as Kathleen Culhane of San Francisco. Culhane could not be reached for comment Monday.
“This is a first in capital litigation and clemency proceedings that we are aware of,” attorney general’s spokesman Nathan Barankin said of the withdrawal of the declarations. “And it is probably one of the most serious breaches of attorney obligations one can imagine.”
Besides the clemency petition, five more exhibits obtained by Culhane were included in an appeal challenging evidentiary issues in the case that defense lawyers filed Friday with the California Supreme Court. Those exhibits also are being withdrawn.
[ . . . ]
Morales is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection next Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. He currently has a petition pending in U.S. District Court in San Jose challenging lethal injection as being a cruel and unusual form of punishment. A federal judge is expected to rule on that petition today.
Cruel and unusual? Ask the family of the victim in this case whether she was cruelly raped and murdered. Just carry out the sentence on this asshole. And, while we’re at it, bring charges against the attorneys for presenting false testimony.