Which Way, L.A.?

Attorney Ken Starr Fights for Clemency, Doctors Fight Role in Execution

At 12:01 tomorrow morning, Michael Morales is scheduled to become the fourteenth prisoner executed since California reinstated capital punishment 28 years ago. He'll be the third in just over two months--unless the US Supreme Court intervenes at the last minute. Morales, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the rape, torture and murder of a 17-year-old girl back in 1981, will die by lethal injection at a minute past midnight tomorrow morning. He'll be the third in just over two months--unless the US Supreme Court intervenes at the last minute. We hear from a journalist covering the story, a statewide doctors' organization that opposes involvement in executions and one of Morales' attorneys--Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor of President Bill Clinton. Reporter's Notebook: Independents Could Outnumber CA Dems, GOP in 2025 Since 1990, Californians have been turning away from the major political parties. If the rate continues, Independents could outnumber Republicans and Democrats in just 20 years--or even sooner if the rate of disaffection picks up. That's according to an op-ed in yesterday's LA Times co-authored by Mark Baldassare, research director at the Public Policy Institute of California.