Posted on 12/13/2005 6:19:11 AM PST by Brilliant
SAN QUENTIN, United States (AFP) - US authorities have executed convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams after one of the biggest anti-death penalty campaigns in the country for decades.
Williams, executed by lethal injection at San Quentin prison, was declared dead at 12:35 am (0335 GMT) on Tuesday, a prison spokeswoman said.
Several thousand people gathered outside the prison south of San Francisco raised their voices in anger when the news was announced.
"It's over, but it's not," said civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, one of several high-profile figures to have supported Williams in his quest to avoid execution.
"He came in without any kind of resistance, was strapped down, showed no kind of resistance whatsoever," said Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez, who witnessed the execution along with nearly 40 other people, including supporters of Williams and the families of his victims.
Laura Owens, the stepmother of one of Williams' victims broke down and cried when Williams was pronounced dead, said the reporter, adding that some of Williams' supporters, instead, shouted, "The state of California just killed an innocent man," as they filed out of the witness room.
San Quentin prison warden Steve Ornosky said Williams had no final words in the death chamber, but that he passed on some comments to his followers. He said Williams only had milk for his a last supper.
Williams, 51, was found guilty in 1981 of four murders, those of a convenience store clerk and a family of Chinese immigrants.
While on death row he insisted he was innocent of the murders but admitted being a founder of the brutal Crips gang that terrorised Los Angeles at the time of the killings.
On death row he gained celebrity as an anti-violence crusader. An author of books urging children to steer clear of gangs, Williams was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Hollywood stars and civil rights activists joined an international campaign to save Williams' life because of his activism. But all court appeals were rejected, and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down his clemency bid on Monday.
"Clemency cases are always difficult and this one is no exception," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
"After studying the evidence, searching the history, listening to the arguments and wrestling with the profound consequences, I could find no justification for granting clemency.
"The facts do not justify overturning the jury's verdict or the decisions of the courts in this case," the governor added.
Afer the execution, Barbara Becnel, who helped Williams write his books and who witnessed his execution, told the crowd outside the prison that the book had not closed on the Williams case.
"We are not going to forget," she said. "I am a woman on a mission. I am going to prove that Stan was innocent and governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is a cold blooded murderer."
Several thousand Williams supporters gathered outside the prison after the US Supreme Court declined to stay the execution six hours before it took place, clogging the narrow road that leads to the prison.
Some carried candles, others signs reading "Save Tookie" and "Love is the answer."
Hollywood celebrities, including actors Jamie Foxx and Danny Glover, rapper Snoop Dogg, African-American leaders and opponents of the death penalty have championed Williams' case.
Actor Mike Farrell, of the television series MASH, accused Schwarzenegger of "leaving him (Williams) twisting in the wind for 97 hours" by waiting until Monday to deny clemency.
Earlier, Williams' defenders had produced what they said was a new witness who could clear him.
According to court documents, a former prisoner has testified that sheriff's deputies fed incriminating evidence to a witness who implicated Williams at his 1981 trial, and forged Williams' handwriting to create bogus evidence.
Lawyers said the information was sent to Schwarzenegger's office before his decision was announced.
Williams was found guilty of shooting one man in the back with a shotgun while robbing a convenience store, and a Chinese couple and their daughter at point blank range in a second raid on their family-run motel.
He never apologized for the killings, contending he would "rather die than lie" by admitting to the murders.
The New York Times on Tuesday published an interview Williams gave on November 29. He said the death penalty "doesn't work ... Its a more sophisticated type of killing than a mob lynching. Its pathetic."
Asked how he faced the prospect of his own demise, he answered: "I feel good physically and mentally and spiritually. Had I not undergone this redemptive transformation, I guarantee I'd really be a mess.
"I have that joie de vivre. I love life," he added.
Williams' was California's 11th execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty nationwide in 1976. On December 2, the 1000th inmate was put to death in North Carolina.
He was Tookienated.....by the Tookienator.......
Hehe good phrase there :)
Uh-huh.
And if the Governor had immediately denied him clemency, Farrell would be whining about how the Governor made a knee-jerk decision without proper deliberation.
Nobel Peace Prize ?
An obvious reference to the tendency of certain members of Jesse's constituency to riot, burn and loot the stores of the misguided fools who still try to do business in their community at the slightest excuse.
No doubt there will be a lot of plasma TVs and expensive tennis shoes "liberated" in LA, or at least that's what's Jesse's trying to encourage with his rhetoric.
Jesse thinks killing Tookie is wrong, but killing babies is just fine. Is there a disconnect here?
"It's over, but it's not," said civil rights leader Jesse JacksonJesse's going to perform a resurrection?
The moral of the story is that if you murder 4 people, writing some children's books while on death row, and talking about nonviolence, is not going to win you clemency.
Think of this way. Tookie was an abortion in his 207th trimester. The collective mother CHOSE to terminate the fetus.
See how much better it sounds now? All libs must support it now! Not only was it choice, the 207th trimester fetus murdered 4 people in cold blood. That means he must be mentally handicapped, another reason to terminate the baby.
Nancy Grace had a mother of a young man killed by the Crips gang on her program. As a black woman, the mother was upset at all of the media attention on Williams. She was for Williams being executed as soon as possible.
More family survivors of the victims of the Crips gang should be interviewed by the media, but we all know that will never happen.
http://www.courttv.com/anchors/nancy_grace.html
"After Williams blasted a football-sized hole in Albert Owens' back as he lay face-down on the floor of the 7-Eleven where he worked, the gang leader laughed about the "gurgling" noises the 26-year-old divorced father of two made as he died, according to trial testimony.
"And after Williams gunned down Yen-I Yang, 76, his wife, Tsai-Shai, 63, and their daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, 43, when he robbed their family-run motel, he bragged of killing "Buddha-heads," according to his pals' testimony."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/369269p-314207c.html
Jessie got blindsided during his grandstanding. Somebody asked him if he knew any of the names of the victims and he became a sputtering deer in a headlight. Same for Al Sharpton on Tucker Carlson's show a couple of hours later.
Anyone can be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Even other mass murderers like Tookie.
"Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938! Leading the campaign for years was the renowned author, Gertrude Stein.
As early as 1934, she told a reporter that Hitler should be awarded the Nobel peace prize. "I say that Hitler ought to have the peace prize, because he is removing all the elements of contest and of struggle from Germany. By driving out the Jews and the democratic and Left element, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace ... By suppressing Jews ... he was ending struggle in Germany" (New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1934).
While Gertrude Stein's reputation may have declined, authors round the world, and as close to home as New Jersey, continue to promote her view that peace will be won by 'driving out the Jews'."
http://www.doctor-horsefeathers.com/archives/000054.php
"US authorities have executed convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams after one of the biggest anti-death penalty campaigns in the country for decades. "
Notice they used "US Authorities" to make it look like Bush had something to do with this. No, it was California authorities you stupid French press agency.
That's my air he's no longer breathing.
Now if we could just dispatch the other cause celebre, Mumia. Then justice will be done.
I didn't notice that it was "the biggest" anything.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I don't get it. Ah-nuld is only one out of many parties that either decided Tookie's punishment or declined to reconsider. Including in these parties are CA Supreme Court, the 9th circuit, and US Supreme Court.
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