S.C. To Consider Ex-Judge’s Duty to Disclose Censure: According to a story by the MetNews, the California Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a retired L.A. Superior Court judge had a duty to disclose his censure for making offensive comments about women based on their physical attributes before arbitrating a medical malpractice claim centering on a woman’s appearance. The justices, at their weekly conference in San Francisco, voted unanimously to grant review in Haworth v. Superior Court (Ossakow), 164 Cal.App.4th 930. The Court also agreed to review the ruling of the Third District Court of Appeal in Barnett v. Superior Court, 164 Cal.App.4th 18, which deals with discovery disputes in a death penalty habeas corpus proceeding. At issue: whether Penal Code Sec. 1054.9, establishing procedures for post-conviction discovery, is an unlawful amendment to Proposition 115, the 1990 criminal justice initiative. The justices invited the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, the Office of the State Public Defender, the California District Attorneys Association, and other interested organizations to brief that issue.

Morales Case Gets Another Hearing: Stockton Record staff writer Scott Smith reports that attorneys for California brought their case against condemned Stockton murderer Michael Morales to an appeals court Thursday for argument on changes made to the state's method of execution two years ago. In February 2006, state officials modified California's lethal injection procedure in a last-ditch effort to convince a federal judge that Morales would not suffer unconstitutional levels of pain during his execution. The challenge has stopped executions in California. Morales was sentenced to death for the 1981 rape and murder of 17-year-old Terri Lynn Winchell of Stockton. The case came before the appeals court because Morales' attorneys filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court for Marin County, where San Quentin is located, against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in April 2006, two months after the failed attempt to execute the inmate. Once the appellate court rules, Morales' case may go back to U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who is overseeing the federal case.