Posted on 02/20/2006 9:39:36 PM PST by doug from upland
Edited on 02/21/2006 1:53:21 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
UPDATE: CDC OFFICIAL CALLS MORALES 'UPBEAT' AND 'COOPERATIVE' 02/20/06 8:55 PST SAN QUENTIN (BCN)
In the hours before his execution at San Quentin State Prison, condemned inmate Michael Morales met only with his legal team and has been described by a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation official as "upbeat'' and "cooperative.''
Morales, 46, was moved into what is known as the death watch cell at 6 p.m. today, according to CDC spokeswoman Elaine Jennings.
The move came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Morales' final two appeals.
Jennings said Morales has been described as "upbeat'' and "very positive.'' He has also been "very cooperative'' with prison staff, she said.
He did not meet with family members or a spiritual adviser today.
Morales picked a last meal; however, details about the meal, as well as his last words, will be disclosed by the prison's warden after the execution.
Morales is scheduled to be executed Tuesday morning by lethal injection for the 1981 murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi.
Then 21, Morales strangled Winchell with a belt, beat her over the head with a hammer, then pulled her body into a vineyard where he raped her and stabbed her to death.
As part of a federal judge's order, an anesthesiologist will be present in the execution chamber to ensure that Morales is unconscious before his final drugs are administered, according to Jennings.
The anesthesiologist will not be identified and may choose to hide his identity, possibly using a surgical mask, Jennings said. An alternate anesthesiologist will be just outside the chamber.
Jennings said the drug cocktail -- 5 grams of sodium pentothal to stop muscle movement, 50 cc of pancuronium bromide to stop breathing and 50 cc of potassium chloride to stop the heart -- will remain the same during Tuesday's execution.
"This is our protocol,'' Jennings said, adding that her agency believes the lethal injection process is "humane'' and "painless.''
Five of Winchell's family members will be present during the execution. Morales has designated two witnesses, according to Jennings.
__________
Update: Morales Execution Delayed
Feb 21, 2006 1:19 am US/Pacific
(BCN) SAN FRANCISCO The execution of condemned inmate Michael Morales has been delayed for at least one hour while the execution team reviews its roles during the process, according to San Quentin spokesman Vernell Crittendon.
San Quentin State Prison Warden Steven Ornoski wants to go over additional training for some of the new members of the execution team, which includes two anesthesiologists, Crittendon said.
Crittendon announced the delay at 11:30 p.m.
As part of a Federal Judge's recent order an anesthesiologist will be present in the execution chamber to insure Morales is unconscious before the final drugs are administered. An alternate anesthesiologist will be just outside the chamber.
Morales was scheduled to be executed today by lethal injection for the 1981 murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi.
Crittendon said Morales had not been notified of the delay. He said the execution warrant is good for 24 hours.
"There is no need for us to rush into this if the warden is not completely comfortable with the process," he said.
This is not the first execution to experience delays.
(Bay City News)
Morales Execution Delayed
Just in on another thread --- delayed again. They will take it up again in May. Justice was so close.
Well, he figured out how to stop the execution. He will probably never be executed and all the other murders on death row will follow his lead. This is unbelievable.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Actually, this could be good mental torture for Morales.
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Exactly what I was thinking! How many times have you wanted something awful to just end? I would argue that waiting is torture in itself.
The original judge who issued the death warrant may very well be likely to refuse to do it again. This is really bad. I hate to say it, but the odds are that he is going to live. I heard the dad on the John Ziegler show. He has a heart condition, and this is mental torture for him. The judge may have sentenced him to death.
Out of control judges must be stopped.
Terri Lynn Winchell left home on the last night of her life in January 1981 to help a boy she knew hated her.
That's just the way she was, friends and family said. Good-hearted. A devout believer in turning the other cheek, in giving people a second chance.
But this was a chance she should not have given.
By the end of the evening, the 17-year-old church choir singer and high school beauty lay raped, hammered and stabbed to death, her corpse sprawled between two rows of grapevines.
She had no inkling of it, but she had been caught in the middle of a love triangle gone hideously bad. Her boyfriend, unbeknownst to her, had been involved in a gay relationship with another man -- whose jealousy drove him to recruit a street thug who would take Winchell out of the picture.
While dating Winchell, the boyfriend was carrying on a secret affair with 19-year-old Ricky Ortega, whom he had met when the two were at Lincoln High School in Stockton. Ortega hung out with Winchell and her boyfriend as part of their group of pals, but his jealousy soured so deeply he began needling her all the time, making it clear he disliked her. It didn't help that Winchell kidded Ortega that he seemed gay -- never knowing how close to the truth she was.
The boyfriend was becoming terrified of Ortega as well, he said in an interview last week with The Chronicle. He begged the paper not to name him, saying he is now happily married with children who have no idea what happened all those years ago.
"Ricky threatened me, and he threatened to kill my mother if I didn't do it with him," he said. "He broke my windows out at 1 a.m. once, he was so mad. I just didn't know what to do."
The stress of the forced relationship, he said, was in direct opposition to his romance with Winchell. "She was so talented, so full of life and energy," he said. "She was my refuge away from the craziness."
But where some saw beauty and talent, Ortega saw only rivalry. By late 1980, he'd had enough. He began scheming on how to get rid of his romantic competition, according to court testimony, but felt he couldn't do it himself.
So he called the toughest guy he knew: his cousin Morales, a member of the Little Unity Latino gang. Morales, prosecutors say, told Ortega he'd be happy to help administer some payback.
Twenty-five years later, that early-'80s thug, Michael Morales, is due to be executed at San Quentin State Prison for a crime that capped years of running with gang-bangers and snorting, gulping or smoking every mind-twisting substance he could get his hands on. He would be the 14th person to be put to death in California since executions resumed in 1992 after a 25-year halt.
Terri Lynn Winchell left home on the last night of her life in January 1981 to help a boy she knew hated her.
That's just the way she was, friends and family said. Good-hearted. A devout believer in turning the other cheek, in giving people a second chance.
But this was a chance she should not have given.
By the end of the evening, the 17-year-old church choir singer and high school beauty lay raped, hammered and stabbed to death, her corpse sprawled between two rows of grapevines.
She had no inkling of it, but she had been caught in the middle of a love triangle gone hideously bad. Her boyfriend, unbeknownst to her, had been involved in a gay relationship with another man -- whose jealousy drove him to recruit a street thug who would take Winchell out of the picture.
While dating Winchell, the boyfriend was carrying on a secret affair with 19-year-old Ricky Ortega, whom he had met when the two were at Lincoln High School in Stockton. Ortega hung out with Winchell and her boyfriend as part of their group of pals, but his jealousy soured so deeply he began needling her all the time, making it clear he disliked her. It didn't help that Winchell kidded Ortega that he seemed gay -- never knowing how close to the truth she was.
The boyfriend was becoming terrified of Ortega as well, he said in an interview last week with The Chronicle. He begged the paper not to name him, saying he is now happily married with children who have no idea what happened all those years ago.
"Ricky threatened me, and he threatened to kill my mother if I didn't do it with him," he said. "He broke my windows out at 1 a.m. once, he was so mad. I just didn't know what to do."
The stress of the forced relationship, he said, was in direct opposition to his romance with Winchell. "She was so talented, so full of life and energy," he said. "She was my refuge away from the craziness."
But where some saw beauty and talent, Ortega saw only rivalry. By late 1980, he'd had enough. He began scheming on how to get rid of his romantic competition, according to court testimony, but felt he couldn't do it himself.
So he called the toughest guy he knew: his cousin Morales, a member of the Little Unity Latino gang. Morales, prosecutors say, told Ortega he'd be happy to help administer some payback.
Twenty-five years later, that early-'80s thug, Michael Morales, is due to be executed at San Quentin State Prison for a crime that capped years of running with gang-bangers and snorting, gulping or smoking every mind-twisting substance he could get his hands on. He would be the 14th person to be put to death in California since executions resumed in 1992 after a 25-year halt.
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