Forgery Is Alleged in Killer's Clemency Bid

Prosecutors and legal scholars predicted that the development would cast a pall over Morales' efforts to persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop his Feb. 21 execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.

"Let's put it this way: It can't help him," San Joaquin County Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Schultz said. "The affidavits were forged, complete works of fiction. Whoever wrote them broke the law.

"It's amazing. If you wrote this up for a movie script, it'd be rejected because it's too far out."

Late Friday, however, one of Morales' attorneys defended the documents. "We stand by the validity of our investigation and the information we provided the governor," David Senior said in a statement.

Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor, said Morales now faces a difficult task in trying to salvage his clemency petition.

"It's unbelievable. This just dooms the man's fate," she said. "Now, he's not just a killer, he's a liar and a cheat too. I think the governor will be outraged that someone was playing him for a fool.

"But it's also a fraud on the legal system. Perhaps Morales and his defense lawyers can try to distance themselves. But they have a lot of explaining to do."

The affidavits were submitted Tuesday -- under seal -- to Schwarzenegger on Morales' behalf by his high-profile defense team: Senior and former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

Starr was unavailable for comment Friday. In a brief interview, Senior said, "I've heard that story from them before," referring to prosecutors' questions about the validity of the documents. "If they want a hearing, we can sort the whole thing out."

But later, in a statement, Senior chastised prosecutors for failing to "contact either Mr. Starr or me regarding these provocative allegations."

"It goes without saying we have seen nothing to back up their charges," he said, "which appear timed to grab headlines rather than elicit a considered response from Mr. Morales' lawyers."

In legal arguments submitted to Schwarzenegger on Friday, prosecutors named Kathleen Culhane as the Morales investigator who "supposedly interviewed five of the six jurors" who allegedly had a change of heart.