A lawyer for the Northern California Innocence Project who allegedly had a romantic relationship with a key witness in a murder exoneration case has been accused of offering the witness a share in a multi-million dollar settlement in exchange for cooperative testimony.
The State Bar of California has opened an investigation into Paige Kaneb, legal director of the Northern California Innocence Project, and civil attorney Terry Gross. The two worked to overturn a murder case against Maurice Caldwell in 2011. Kaneb was the main lawyer on Caldwell’s case, helping him get out of prison after he’d spent nearly two decades behind bars for the 1990 murder in San Francisco of Judy Acosta. (Caldwell maintains his innocence.) Gross represented Caldwell in a subsequent civil lawsuit against San Francisco in 2021, which resulted in an $8 million settlement.
The Standard has learned that in addition to the State Bar, the city attorney’s office is investigating the matter.
The State Bar investigation stems from a complaint alleging that Kaneb and Gross promised half of any funds Caldwell won in the civil case to a man named Marritte Funches in exchange for favorable testimony.
Funches was the key witness in the habeas case that freed Caldwell. In a June 10 report, The Standard revealed that Funches and Kaneb had an on-and-off romantic relationship. (At the time, Funches was in a Nevada prison for a 1990 murder in Las Vegas.)
In a twist, it was Funches who filed the complaint that is under investigation by the State Bar.
In the complaint, Funches alleges that the promise of half the winnings from Caldwell’s civil case had secured his participation. That alleged deal was discussed in taped phone conversations between Caldwell and Funches in 2023 that were obtained by The Standard.
Funches told The Standard he’d lied about Caldwell’s innocence — and made Kaneb aware of his lie in 2023. He told The Standard he was motivated to come forward because he felt he had been double-crossed.
The two attorneys under investigation say Funches was trying to extort money from them by threatening to go to the press.
Kaneb, whose actions are also under investigation by Santa Clara University, where the Northern California Innocence Project is housed, did not return a call for comment. In a San Francisco Chronicle report that followed The Standard’s, Kaneb reiterated the claim that Funches sought to extort her.
“I recorded every phone call, kept every text. And copies of every video. You can try to clean it up. But you’ll never practice law again. Your career is done,” Funches emailed Kaneb, according to the Chronicle, which reported that Funches asked for $2 million.
Civil attorney Gross denied those allegations, saying in a June 3 letter to The Standard that they are “patently unbelievable, are plainly false, and which I categorically deny.”
Gross went on to claim that no one had any reason to pay for Funches’ cooperation as he had repeatedly declared his guilt and Caldwell’s innocence.
“We made a fucking deal.”
Maritte Funches
Gross’ letter was in response to questions The Standard asked him before publishing its June 10 report on the case. The letter threatened legal action if any allegation about his role in offering Funches money for help in the civil suit was published. The legal privilege afforded to journalistic coverage of official proceedings allows The Standard to report those allegations now.
Caldwell did not respond to a request for comment.
Funches’ complaint claims that Gross and Kaneb came to his Sterling, Colo., prison in September 2015, where he was serving life imprisonment after being convicted of a Las Vegas murder. Funches alleges the lawyers asked him to testify to his guilt in the Caldwell case — and to deny his relationship with Kaneb.
Per the complaint, Funches initially balked, but Kaneb told him if he did not help them she could lose her license, as the city was “accusing her of inappropriate behavior.” In a deposition to city attorneys, Kaneb denied any romantic relationship with Funches but dodged most questions. She eventually told the Chronicle that she had a romantic relationship with Funches in 2023 and 2024.
Funches wrote in the complaint that he agreed to cooperate only if he got half of any money Caldwell won in the case, and that he receive legal help if he was charged in the case.
Caldwell at first told Funches he never offered him anything but eventually appeared to relent and offered to pay for Funches’ attorney, according to a series of phone calls and text exchanges obtained by The Standard.
In the texts, Caldwell denied that any money had been promised. “My lawyers … never said nothing” about Funches trading cooperation for money.
“We made a fucking deal,” Funches responded.
Caldwell responded that his attorney had made the promise without his knowledge and that he was informed after the fact. “Terry and them did some snake shit and involved Paige in that shit,” Caldwell said.
By February 2024, Caldwell seemed to have agreed to pay for Funches’ lawyer. “I provide the full $ funds for full legal representation,” Caldwell wrote in a text, adding that he would have Kaneb handle the details.
In another text that month, Caldwell wrote, “I spoke with Terry today and he was willing to legally support in assisting us … spoke to Terry as well about me handling the full legal financial representation of your case.”
Caldwell never provided the money or legal aid.
Editor’s note: Following publication of this article, attorneys for Caldwell contacted The Standard to address Funches’ claims. “The evidence of Mr. Caldwell’s innocence and the police misconduct that led to the wrongful conviction is overwhelming — so much so that he was awarded $8 million in damages for the wrongful conviction and false imprisonment, which is among the largest awards of its kind in the state of California,” the attorneys, Daniel P. Watkins and Hannah Menchel, wrote. “Mr. Funches first disclosed that Mr. Caldwell was not involved in Mr. Acosta’s murder long before he ever met Ms. Kaneb or had any contact with her, and years before she even graduated from law school.” Caldwell’s attorneys also alleged that Funches recanted his claim of Caldwell’s innocence in an effort to extort money from Caldwell and Kaneb. Funches denies the allegation of extortion.