Michael Angelo Morales took a giant step toward justice yesterday, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the constitutionality of lethal injection. “Capital punishment is constitutional,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “so there must be a means of implementing it.” Further, as the Press-Enterprise reported, “The high court decided that the three-drug injection method that most states use does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.” For Mr. Morales, this means it’s time to dust off the gurney and dig the hole.
“We’re going to be moving forward with the Morales case now in light of [the court's] decision,” said Gareth Lacy, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office. None too soon either. Morales committed his brutal murder/rape in 1981. The wheels of justice need some WD-40, and yesterday’s ruling may be just the elixir average Americans have been waiting for. Florida Governor Charlie Crist pointed out the obvious when he said, “Justice delayed is justice denied, and an awful lot of families of victims have been waiting years for justice to be done,” relayed the Associated Press. If all goes well Mr. Morales will be dead before year’s end.
Since the mainstream media almost never publish details of what these condemned monsters do, I’ll be happy to here. Warning, the following is tough to take, all of it copied from the website of California’s Office of Victims Services, Bill Lockyer, Attorney General. Additional information, including heart-wrenching letters from the murdered girl’s family, can be found at http://ag.ca.gov/victimservices/pdf/aamorales_presspack.pdf
“On January 8, 1981, twenty-one-year-old Michael Morales murdered and raped seventeen-year-old Terri Lynn Winchell…Morales attacked Terri from behind and attempted to strangle her with his belt. Terri struggled and the belt broke in two. Morales then took out a hammer and began hitting Terri in the head with it. She screamed for Ortega [an accomplice] to help and attempted to fight off the attack, ripping her own hair out of her scalp in the struggle. Morales beat Terri into unconsciousness, crushing her skull and leaving 23 identifiable wounds in her skull.
“Morales then dragged Terri face-down across the road and into a vineyard. Morales then raped her while she lay unconscious. Morales then started to leave, but went back and stabbed Terri four times in the chest to make sure she was dead. Morales then left Terri, calling her ‘a fucking bitch,’ as he walked away. Terri died from both the head and chest wounds. Her body was left in the vineyard naked from the waist down, with her sweater and bra pulled up over her breasts.
“Morales confessed to killing Terri to jailhouse informant Bruce Samuelson, as well as his girlfriend Raquel Cardenas and his housemate Patricia Flores. Morales threatened both Cardenas and Flores prior to his trial so they would not testify about what he told them.
“Within two days of the murder, Morales was arrested at his residence. The police found Morales’ broken belt, containing Terri’s blood, hidden under a bedroom mattress. The police also found three knives, the hammer bearing traces of blood hidden in the refrigerator vegetable crisper, and blood-stained floor matts [sic] from Ortega’s car in the trash. Terri’s purse and credit card were also in the house.”
That such a maggot wound argue lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment defies credulity. That Morales is still alive more than 27 years after this heinous crime is an outrage. The blood of Terri Winchell continues to scream for justice in vain.
Straining believability to the breaking point, the State of California actually conducted a clemency hearing for Morales about two years ago. Following is what the murdered girl’s father had to say about that: “I am the father of Terri Lynn Winchell. Only the parent of a murdered child could begin to imagine the pain I have been forced to lie with for the past twenty-fie years. Terri’s murder changed our lives forever. Michael Morales and Ricky Ortega destroyed the joy in our family. In just one night, they took our little girl out of our lives forever! Her mother, brothers and I all are left with unending pain and loneliness for our little girl. It is inconceivable that Morales and Ortega have lived for twenty-five years after they murdered Terri. They deserve to be executed! The lethal injection is too good for them. They cannot be called animals because animals do not kill and mutilate for the fun of it. These two monsters are inhuman and are not fit to live!!!”
One of Terri’s brothers had this to say: “It is mush to my dismay that I am writing to you regarding clemency for the man that has admitted to the brutal rape, torture and murder of my sister Terry Winchell that occurred twenty-five years ago. I was nine years old when these brutalities occurred and remember all too clearly that night and the morning after my sister’s life was literally choked, beaten, stabbed and crushed out of her. We, as family, and friends, have had a void in our lives for the past twenty-five years. An empty seat at the dinner table, sorrowful conversations of remembrance, too many tears shed. This is…not just something that has regretfully been stirred up in all of our lives again thanks to all the media and protesters of the death penalty. It was a life changing crime that has not only tortured one innocent life but also the lives of many and should have never happened!”
There are several more letters from Terri’s family member on the state website, similar in tone to those above, expressing the ongoing agony inflicted by the monstrous deed of Michael Morales. Also on the website, beginning on page 35, are accounts of “Upcoming Executions in California,” exposing more horrific slaughter perpetrated by death row inmates. Reading these chronicles confirms that the death penalty is applied in the most egregious cases, multiple murders, torture killings and the like. Keeping such vermin alive for decades after their atrocities is a stain on our culture, revealing the vapid nature of those insisting we feed, clothe, house, and care for evil men who wantonly destroy lives and obliterate the joy of victim’s families. The killers on death row are worthy of death.
The will of 70% of Americans who favor the death penalty for scum like Morales must be thwarted no longer. It is past time for the government to carry out the law of the land and the desire of its people. Morales and the 600+ additional murderers on California’s death row should be executed with all deliberate speed. The sooner the better. Tomorrow would not be too soon.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Cultural Insanity, Death Penalty