Sunday, March 04, 2007

Private eye charged with court fraud

Monterey County Herald | 02/22/2007 | Private eye charged with court fraud: "The California attorney general on Wednesday charged a private investigator with filing bogus documents to aid four death row inmates, calling the case one of the largest frauds ever perpetrated on the state's criminal justice system.

Kathleen Culhane was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento on 45 felony counts of forgery, filing false documents and perjury.

''This is fraud at the highest level,'' Michael Farrell, a senior assistant attorney general, said after the arraignment. ''This is someone who is trying to undermine the system.''

Among the inmates for whom Culhane allegedly lied was Michael Morales, who was sentenced to death for the 1981 rape and murder of a Central Valley teenager.

Questions about the San Francisco private investigator arose a year ago when Morales petitioned the governor for clemency and prosecutors challenged the authenticity of several documents Culhane submitted on his behalf. His execution eventually was stayed over the state's lethal injection method, a matter unrelated to Culhane."

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