A lawyer for the California Innocence Project is accused of offering a convicted murderer millions of dollars in exchange for testimony that freed another convicted murderer.
Paige Kaneb, legal director of the Innocence Project of Northern California, allegedly conspired with civil attorney Terry Gross to convince Marritte Funches to testify and incriminate herself as they worked to overturn Maurice Caldwell’s murder conviction.
Kaneb and Gross even promised Funches half of any funds Caldwell won in a 2021 civil lawsuit against the city of San Francisco if he claimed to have murdered Judy Acosta in 1990 and Caldwell was innocent. according to a complaint obtained by The San Francisco Standard.
The alleged agreement was later discussed in recorded conversations between Caldwell and Funches in 2023, as Funches had sexual relations with Kaneb.
He now claims that although Gross had reached an $8 million settlement with the city over fabricating evidence, he never received any funds and instead filed a lawsuit against the two attorneys.
Paige Kaneb, legal director of the Innocence Project of Northern California, is accused of conspiring with civil attorney Terry Gross to convince Marritte Funches to testify and incriminate himself.
He alleges in the complaint filed with the California State Bar that Gross and Kaneb visited him in the Sterling, Colorado, prison, where he was serving a life sentence for a 1990 murder in Las Vegas in 2015.
The lawyers then asked him to testify about his guilt in Acosta’s death and to deny his relationship with Kaneb, Funches says.
According to her complaint, Funches initially refused to accept the request, but Kaneb told her that if she did not help them, she could lose her law license since the city was “accusing her of inappropriate behavior” with him.
Funches said he then agreed to cooperate, only if he received half of the money Caldwell won and received his own legal help.
The lawyers apparently agreed, according to the complaint.
Text messages obtained by The Standard show Caldwell also agreed to the terms.
Funches alleges in a complaint to the State Bar of California that the two attorneys promised him half of any funds Maurice Caldwell won in a 2021 civil lawsuit against the city of San Francisco if he claimed he murdered Judy Acosta in 1990 and that Caldwell was innocent.
At first he told Funches that he never offered him anything in exchange for his testimony.
“My lawyers… never said anything” about a settlement, Caldwell wrote in a text.
But when Funches responded by writing, “We made a damn deal,” Caldwell replied that his lawyers made the promise without his knowledge and that he was informed after the fact.
“Terry and the gang did some shit with snakes and they got Paige involved in it,” he wrote.
In February 2024, Caldwell also appeared to have agreed to pay Funches’ attorney.
“I will provide all necessary funds for full legal representation,” he told Funches, adding that he would leave the details to Kaneb.
In another text, Caldwell said he spoke with Gross “and he was willing to support us legally to help us.”
He said he also spoke to the civil attorney “about the possibility of me handling the full legal and financial representation of his case.”
However, Caldwell never ended up providing Funches with money or legal assistance and maintains his innocence in Acosta’s murder.
Gross had secured an $8 million settlement with the city for fabricating evidence in the Caldwell case, but Funches says he was never paid.
Caldwell claims he was unaware of the deal and that his lawyers made it behind his back.
The two lawyers have also denied wrongdoing, with Gross telling The Standard in June that Funches’ claims are “patently unbelievable, they are patently false and I categorically deny them.”
He argued that no one would have reason to pay for Funches’ cooperation because he repeatedly declared his guilt in the Acosta murder and Caldwell’s innocence.
Kaneb has also maintained her innocence, instead accusing Funches of trying to extort her for $2 million by threatening to go to the press about their relationship.
“I recorded every phone call, saved every text message and copies of every video. You can try to clean it up, but you will never practice law again. Your career is over,” she wrote in an email to Kaneb. obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
He would later make good on his threat and publish what he said was his correspondence with the Standard.
Funches said at the time that he helped Kaneb find new witnesses for Caldwell’s 2010 retrial, but that he broke off their relationship when she broke a promise not to reveal their names publicly.
The two got back in touch in March last year and reportedly exchanged nearly 9,000 messages over the course of a year.
Kaneb once recalled his first encounter with the killer when he visited his Nevada prison with NCIP founder Linda Starr.
“I still remember that on that first visit you were staring at Linda the whole time and I pulled my hair out,” she wrote.
-I wanted you to look at me. I’ve never admitted it before.
‘I remember she was gone for a few minutes. I felt like my chest was going to explode. And we started talking… ‘
Funches had a sexual relationship with Kaneb in 2023 and 2024
“I’m sorry things fell apart and it had such a negative effect on you. I never wanted that,” she wrote in July last year.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I never stopped loving you. I always will,” he told her in a text message.
“I love you too,” she wrote in response. “I have always loved you and I always will.”
She also sent him a series of racy selfies, including two of herself dressed in a sarong in front of a mirror.
Kaneb has since admitted to having a romantic relationship with Funches in 2023 and 2024, which a spokesperson said occurred well after Caldwell’s release had been secured.
But Funches claims the relationship was a ruse to force him to testify in the civil trial.
“She pretended to have a personal interest in me. We began a romantic relationship,” he told the Standard. “It was the art of seduction at its finest. All to get me to eventually help Mr Caldwell.”
Caldwell maintains his innocence in the 1990 murder of Judy Acosta
The State Bar Association is now investigating Funches’ claims.
The Northern California Innocence Project, based at Santa Clara University, is also investigating Kaneb’s actions.
“As with any unit of the university, when we receive any allegation of inappropriate conduct by an employee, we refer the matter to the university for investigation,” CEO Todd Fries said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco City Attorney added: “We take this information seriously and will look into the matter.”
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