Execution day
Well, it's here. Execution day. Ten hours from now, I will be in the depths of San Quentin State Prison, watching Michael Morales take his last breath. Today was bright, clear and cold. The execution was the first thing I thought of when I awoke this morning. I thought about it as I did laundry (while almost finishing "The Executioner's Song" by Norman Mailer, ironically). I thought about it while running, then showering. It's a case I can't avoid thinking about.I've written a little about it here, and I've written a bunch of articles about it. Twenty-five years after he brutaly raped and murdered a 17-year-old Terri Lynn Winchell, Michael Morales will die tonight. In the process, the case has brought two families back to the spotlight, and it even managed to sully the name of Clinton prosecutor Kenneth Starr after documents supposedly filed by former jurors turned out to be forged.
For me, it's the end of about a year and a half of thinking, "This might actually happen, even though California has only executed 13 people since 1978." I'll be up most of the night and then will be writing more tomorrow, but there won't be any more court filings to watch for. After 25 years, Michael Morales' appeals are over.
Posted by Layla at 2:22 PM, February 20, 2006
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