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Ken Starr and Sentencing Judge Ask Arnie to Commute Death Sentence

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Fri Jan 27, 2006 at 11:47:42 PM EST
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has rejected the last four clemency bids that came before him, that of Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, the 76 year old Clarence Ray Allen, Donald Beardslee and Kevin Cooper. Now he has another decision to make. But, in this case, that of Michael Morales, both Kenn Starr and the sentencing judge are petitioning for clemency.

The Judge says he's concerned that the jailhouse snitch who testified against Morales lied. Apparently, the snitch said his coversation with Morales took place in Spanish, but now it's been discovered that Morales speaks only English.

Kenn Starr helped prepare the clemency petition.

Their petition describes Morales as "a deeply repentant sorrowful Christian who has accepted full responsibility for a terrible crime that will haunt him forever."

"Unlike some who express no remorse for their offenses against humanity, Michael has not fled from his responsibility for the deed committed so many years ago in his reckless and drug-saturated youth," the petition says.

NCADP's action alert for Mr. Morales is here.

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    Ken Starr and Sentencing Judge Ask Arnie to Commute Death Sentence | 2 comments (2 topical)
    Re: Ken Starr and Sentencing Judge Ask Arnie to Co (none / 0) (#1)
    by Johnny on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 05:33:36 AM EST
    Why stop now Arnold? At least he has shown consistency on his stance, which is less than you can say for the running dogs in the white hosue.

    Re: Ken Starr and Sentencing Judge Ask Arnie to Co (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 01:06:02 PM EST
    This is really one of the biggest hypocrisies I can imagine. It's a variant of the NIMBY syndrome which I call "It's Someone Else's Problem. I blogged about it at my own place, and at HuffPo, and it really pisses me off. Relevent quote:
    My work in recording studios takes me to some unlikely places. For several years two of my major clients were evangelical Christian Mega-churches that had record labels and recording studios. One day during some major legal drama, perhaps OJ, one of the guys there was whining about "Damn liberal defense lawyers." You know, the typical crap. I asked him what he would do if his son/brother/wife etc. were arrested and charged with murder, who would he want as an attorney? After a few seconds he sheepishly said "Johnnie Cochran, I guess." It all changes when it's not someone else's problem. I also guarantee that the same Conservative Christian Republican-voting guy would suddenly embrace the Innocence Project, the ACLU, Barry Scheck, CSI-style DNA testing, habeus corpus filing defense attorneys and the DNC if they thought it would save their loved one. It all changes when it's not someone else's problem.
    Jeebus H. Christ, why do logically challenged people still insist that the death penalty is reasonable. Bloodthirstiness really isn't civilized nor does it deter anyone from comitting a capitol crime. And as I wrote above, if there were any fairness about it, then everyone would embrace it, even it was a sentence given to a loved one. After all, no one is above the law, right. Yeah, that's what I thought. Schwarzenegger is a bastard. Oh, and filibuster Alito.

    Ken Starr and Sentencing Judge Ask Arnie to Commute Death Sentence | 2 comments (2 topical)