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GUESTS: Stefanie Faucher, Program Director of Death Penalty Focus, Natasha Minsker, Death Penalty Policy Director of ACLU Northern California

Death Row inmate Michael Morales is scheduled to be executed by the state of California this February 21st. Last Thursday, a federal judge agreed to hear Morales’ claim that death by lethal injection violates the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Morales was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Terri Winchell. Key to the jury’s decision to give him the death penalty was the questionable testimony of a jailhouse informant who claimed Morales confessed to him his guilt. The informant, Bruce Samuelson, claimed that he and Morales conversed in Spanish to ensure that others would not be able to listen in. However, Samuelson did not know that Morales is not a Spanish speaker. Morales is being represented by conservative scholar and former federal judge Kenneth Starr. Judge Charles McGrath who condemned Morales, is among those asking for clemency due to Samuelson’s questionable testimony. Governor Schwarzenegger will be deciding whether to hold a clemency hearing.

For more information, visit www.deathpenalty.org, and www.aclunc.org.