Michael Angelo Morales v. Jeanne S. Woodford, as Warden of San Quentin State Prison

Michael Morales, a state prisoner convicted of murder with special circumstances and sentenced to death, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Facts

A. The Murder and Investigation

Seventeen year-old Terri Winchell disappeared on a Thursday evening, January 8, 1981. Her mother lay sick in bed. Terri was getting ready to go out to pick up some food at a local restaurant. Before she left, she got a telephone call around 5:15 p.m. from Rick Ortega, a young man she knew through her friends. She spoke with him, then called her best friend Glenda Chavez. Terri told Glenda Chavez that Rick Ortega had asked her to go with him to the mall to pick out a present for his new girlfriend. Driving her mother’s car, she left to pick up the food, telling her mother she “would be right back” and would be “back within the hour.” Hours passed. Terri’s mother became increasingly worried. She called the police to report that her car was missing around 10:00 that night, and reported that Terri was missing at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

That day, Friday, the police interviewed Terri Winchell’s mother, Terri’s best friend Glenda Chavez, and Terri’s…