Santiago Ventura Morales

Santiago Ventura Morales was born in 1968 and grew up in San Miguel Cuevas in the Mexican state of Oaxaca where he completed school through the sixth grade.[1][6] Paul De Muniz, who became Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2001 and retired in 2013, was Morales’ primary defense attorney on the successful appeal.[7] In 1995, the state of Oregon passed a law that requires testing and certification of court interpreters as a result of the Morales case.[2] While imprisoned he had earned his GED and taken some college level classes, which along with the injustice led to the school offering him a full-ride scholarship to the Catholic university.[9] The legal injustice to Morales led the Oregon Supreme Court to adopt changes in the way language issues are dealt with to avoid future problems.
MexicoOregonmurderUniversity of PortlandOaxacaMixtecSandy, OregonSpanishOregon Supreme CourtVirginia LinderPaul De MunizNeil GoldschmidtDave FrohnmayerPortland State UniversityPortland, OregonFresno, CaliforniaThe Oregonian