Jolie Rouge
08-23-2007, 09:15 PM
Private eye gets five years for fake documents in death row cases
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
08/16/2007 06:41:59 PM PDT
SACRAMENTO—Death penalty investigator Kathleen Culhane said she recognized from the start that she was breaking the law when she systematically faked more than two dozen documents in an attempt to derail fast-approaching executions.
Her goal was to buy the condemned inmates more time. And in that she succeeded, prosecutors said, forcing attorneys to retrace her steps to make sure she didn't do more to undermine the state's legal system.
Culhane, 40, smiled slightly Thursday as she was led away in handcuffs to begin serving a five-year prison term for two counts of forgery and single counts of perjury and filing false documents. Her attorney said she is likely to actually serve about two years and eight months.
Under a plea agreement, the former San Francisco-based investigator avoided a possible 19 years in prison on 45 counts. She originally was charged with filing false documents under the names of 11 jurors, two witnesses, two court interpreters and one police officer. "I definitely knew the seriousness of what I was doing and what was at stake," Culhane told the Associated Press.
"For many years I worked legally and really strived to uphold truth in our justice system. But I think part of the truth of this is we have a very dysfunctional defense system in terms of the death penalty," Culhane said in a courthouse interview moments before she was sentenced.
She said she grew frustrated that most death penalty appeals ultimately were rejected and the inmates executed. "I think it got to the point where although I knew these acts were wrong, I believed they were necessary in order to try to prevent, or delay, executions," she said.
A defiant Culhane used her sentencing hearing in Sacramento County Superior Court to criticize at length a justice system she was sworn to serve.
Though trained as a lawyer, Culhane worked as a private investigator for Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco and for private attorneys defending condemned inmates in the final stages of their court appeals and in last-ditch clemency appeals to California governors.
She said she started making up statements from real witnesses and jurors and forging their signatures on documents favorable to condemned murderers out of her belief that the death penalty is often disproportionately applied to racial minorities and the poor.
She got away with it for years.
Investigators eventually found that Culhane filed at least 23 fraudulent documents to help four death row inmates between November 2002 and February 2006. They say she faked documents for a fifth inmate as well, but those allegations were dropped as part of her plea agreement.
Though Culhane said she was careful in forging the documents, prosecutors said she misspelled one juror's name and used another's old address.
She was discovered after Michael Morales petitioned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency as he was about to be executed last year for the 1981 rape and murder of a Central Valley teenager.
San Joaquin County prosecutors challenged six documents provided by Culhane. They found jurors who swore they had never spoken with Culhane and said they supported Morales' death sentence.
San Joaquin Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau, who attended Thursday's sentencing, said it is ironic that Morales' execution has since been stayed because of concerns about the state's lethal injection method—an issue that was not related to Culhane. Morales is on death row for the rape and murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Farrell told Judge Gary Ransom that California voters have consistently supported the death penalty, despite Culhane's concerns. He said Culhane's actions could undermine crime victims and the public's confidence in the judicial system.
"There's a real danger that people may inflict street justice. There's a real danger that suspects can get killed. That's the real irony here," Farrell said.
Culhane's attorney, Stuart Hanlon, told Ransom that his client engaged in acts of "civil disobedience."
Not so, said Himelblau.
"Civil disobedience involves breaking the law in an open and a notorious fashion, like sitting in the front of the bus or marching or protesting," Himelblau said after the hearing.
In addition to Morales, the other three death-row inmates named in Culhane's charges are: Jose Guerra, convicted by a Los Angeles County jury for the 1990 rape and murder of Kathleen Powell; Vicente Figueroa Benavides, convicted by a Kern County jury for the 1991 murder and rape of a 21-month-old child; and Christian Monterroso, convicted by an Orange County jury for the 1991 murders of Tarsem Singh and Ashokkumar Patel and the attempted murder of Allen Canellas.
Each remains on death row with pending appeals.
Under Culhane's plea agreement, prosecutors dropped forgery charges related to the case of a fifth condemned inmate, Richard Clark. He was convicted of murdering Rosie Grover, 15, who was walking home from a bus stop in Ukiah when Clark abducted, raped and fatally stabbed her in 1985.
Morales' attorneys had hired Culhane, but in the other three cases she was working as a staff investigator for the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco. The center has withdrawn all the declarations she submitted and cooperated fully, Farrell said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6643404?nclick_check=1
It is a telling but unsurprising comment on the anti-death penalty industry that it has to rely on fraud to gum up the works yet one more time. The "accountability" issue here is that decades after their crimes and sentences, these murderers have not fulfilled their sentences. Shame on Culhane. Shame on the anti-DP movement.
Michael Morales petitioned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency as he was about to be executed last year for the 1981 rape and murder of a Central Valley teenager.
Caught faking documents to defend the guy that raped and beat to death, with a hammer, a 17 year old girl.
Kathleen Culhane also lied to protect Vincente Benavides, who raped and sodomized 21-month-old Consuelo Verdugo so brutally that several of her internal organs were “cracked in half.” Consuelo lingered for 8 days and, undoubtedly, suffered a horrible death.
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
08/16/2007 06:41:59 PM PDT
SACRAMENTO—Death penalty investigator Kathleen Culhane said she recognized from the start that she was breaking the law when she systematically faked more than two dozen documents in an attempt to derail fast-approaching executions.
Her goal was to buy the condemned inmates more time. And in that she succeeded, prosecutors said, forcing attorneys to retrace her steps to make sure she didn't do more to undermine the state's legal system.
Culhane, 40, smiled slightly Thursday as she was led away in handcuffs to begin serving a five-year prison term for two counts of forgery and single counts of perjury and filing false documents. Her attorney said she is likely to actually serve about two years and eight months.
Under a plea agreement, the former San Francisco-based investigator avoided a possible 19 years in prison on 45 counts. She originally was charged with filing false documents under the names of 11 jurors, two witnesses, two court interpreters and one police officer. "I definitely knew the seriousness of what I was doing and what was at stake," Culhane told the Associated Press.
"For many years I worked legally and really strived to uphold truth in our justice system. But I think part of the truth of this is we have a very dysfunctional defense system in terms of the death penalty," Culhane said in a courthouse interview moments before she was sentenced.
She said she grew frustrated that most death penalty appeals ultimately were rejected and the inmates executed. "I think it got to the point where although I knew these acts were wrong, I believed they were necessary in order to try to prevent, or delay, executions," she said.
A defiant Culhane used her sentencing hearing in Sacramento County Superior Court to criticize at length a justice system she was sworn to serve.
Though trained as a lawyer, Culhane worked as a private investigator for Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco and for private attorneys defending condemned inmates in the final stages of their court appeals and in last-ditch clemency appeals to California governors.
She said she started making up statements from real witnesses and jurors and forging their signatures on documents favorable to condemned murderers out of her belief that the death penalty is often disproportionately applied to racial minorities and the poor.
She got away with it for years.
Investigators eventually found that Culhane filed at least 23 fraudulent documents to help four death row inmates between November 2002 and February 2006. They say she faked documents for a fifth inmate as well, but those allegations were dropped as part of her plea agreement.
Though Culhane said she was careful in forging the documents, prosecutors said she misspelled one juror's name and used another's old address.
She was discovered after Michael Morales petitioned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency as he was about to be executed last year for the 1981 rape and murder of a Central Valley teenager.
San Joaquin County prosecutors challenged six documents provided by Culhane. They found jurors who swore they had never spoken with Culhane and said they supported Morales' death sentence.
San Joaquin Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau, who attended Thursday's sentencing, said it is ironic that Morales' execution has since been stayed because of concerns about the state's lethal injection method—an issue that was not related to Culhane. Morales is on death row for the rape and murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Farrell told Judge Gary Ransom that California voters have consistently supported the death penalty, despite Culhane's concerns. He said Culhane's actions could undermine crime victims and the public's confidence in the judicial system.
"There's a real danger that people may inflict street justice. There's a real danger that suspects can get killed. That's the real irony here," Farrell said.
Culhane's attorney, Stuart Hanlon, told Ransom that his client engaged in acts of "civil disobedience."
Not so, said Himelblau.
"Civil disobedience involves breaking the law in an open and a notorious fashion, like sitting in the front of the bus or marching or protesting," Himelblau said after the hearing.
In addition to Morales, the other three death-row inmates named in Culhane's charges are: Jose Guerra, convicted by a Los Angeles County jury for the 1990 rape and murder of Kathleen Powell; Vicente Figueroa Benavides, convicted by a Kern County jury for the 1991 murder and rape of a 21-month-old child; and Christian Monterroso, convicted by an Orange County jury for the 1991 murders of Tarsem Singh and Ashokkumar Patel and the attempted murder of Allen Canellas.
Each remains on death row with pending appeals.
Under Culhane's plea agreement, prosecutors dropped forgery charges related to the case of a fifth condemned inmate, Richard Clark. He was convicted of murdering Rosie Grover, 15, who was walking home from a bus stop in Ukiah when Clark abducted, raped and fatally stabbed her in 1985.
Morales' attorneys had hired Culhane, but in the other three cases she was working as a staff investigator for the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco. The center has withdrawn all the declarations she submitted and cooperated fully, Farrell said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6643404?nclick_check=1
It is a telling but unsurprising comment on the anti-death penalty industry that it has to rely on fraud to gum up the works yet one more time. The "accountability" issue here is that decades after their crimes and sentences, these murderers have not fulfilled their sentences. Shame on Culhane. Shame on the anti-DP movement.
Michael Morales petitioned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency as he was about to be executed last year for the 1981 rape and murder of a Central Valley teenager.
Caught faking documents to defend the guy that raped and beat to death, with a hammer, a 17 year old girl.
Kathleen Culhane also lied to protect Vincente Benavides, who raped and sodomized 21-month-old Consuelo Verdugo so brutally that several of her internal organs were “cracked in half.” Consuelo lingered for 8 days and, undoubtedly, suffered a horrible death.