Paige Kaneb, the Northern California Innocence Project lawyer who had a romantic relationship with a witness in a controversial murder case, is no longer with the organization, The Standard has learned.
Kaneb, who did not respond to several requests for comment, was one of the lawyers who helped free Maurice Caldwell from prison after he spent nearly 20 years incarcerated for a 1990 murder he maintains he did not commit.
The Innocence Project’s case for Caldwell’s exoneration included the testimony of a man who admitted he was the second shooter in the killing. He initially said Caldwell was not involved.
In June, The Standard revealed that Kaneb had an on-and-off relationship with that witness, Marritte Funches, who claimed he lied about Caldwell’s innocence and was offered cash in exchange for aiding Caldwell’s case against the city. (At the time, Funches was in a Nevada prison for a 1990 murder in Las Vegas.)
Following The Standard’s story, the State Bar of California, San Francisco’s city attorney, and Santa Clara University, which houses the Innocence Project, launched separate investigations into the relationship and Funches’ claims.
A spokesperson with the university would not comment on what prompted Kaneb’s departure from the organization or the result of their investigation but did say the university stands by its work on the Caldwell case.
Separately, Kaneb’s lawyer said in a letter that she had been exonerated by the investigation.
The case for innocence
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 murder in San Francisco of Judy Acosta. In 2010, a judge threw out his conviction due to ineffective counsel and granted Caldwell a new trial. The retrial was eventually dismissed in 2011, in part because a witness had died.
After being released from prison, Caldwell launched a civil suit against the city with the help of attorney Terry Gross. In 2021, the city settled the wrongful conviction case for $8 million.
Funches was the key witness in the habeas case that freed Caldwell, and he testified in Caldwell’s civil case.
In 2024, Funches said in a complaint to the state bar that he was offered millions by Gross on behalf of Caldwell in exchange for aiding the lawsuit against the city. Funches said he never got any money and was motivated to come forward because he felt he had been double-crossed.
Kaneb and Gross contend that Funches was trying to extort money from them by threatening to go to the press.