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 said Williams only had milk for his a last supper."
Other condemned men have a "last meal". Tookie had a "last supper".
(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.")
Death row activist. I have heard it all now. What the hell was he active in? Killing people? The MSM and all death row opponents( or actually just the ones who try to get a murdering scum bag like this off)are so full of it as to be unbelievable.
These people want to popularize the notion that every death row inmate is innocent. That way when one is executed, they can say that an innocent man was executed. I would not be too surprised if the witnesses against Tookie began to recant. All these guys have an agenda.
(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.")
You took the words right out of my mouth.
How quaint, milk and Tookies........
(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.")
Mummify Mumia.........
(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.")
(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.")
These disgusting pieces of human waste throw around the word "innocent" like they have a clue as to what being "innocent" really means. They're killing the really innocent people every second of every day.
You noticed that too. Subtle, aren't they?
PS to Agence France Presse: San Quentin is about 20 miles NORTH of San Francisco, not south.
Oh, well. Once 180 degrees out of phase, always 180 degrees out of phase!
You people have no heart or soul. I was going to become a gang member, and thinking about murdering the 7-11 workers. Then I read all nine of tookie's chilruns books. It changed my life and I've become a practicing virgin {hoping to offer my sacrifice to the real killer of oj's wife, after he is finally captured}. Just think of how many people that I've not killed because of tookie's chilruns books. Ahrnuld should have spared tookie and saved more 7-11 workers. s/off
Wasn't Adolf Hitler also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?
Poor Tookie.. He wrote children's books and murdered people, the number of which will never be known other than the 4 that sent his a$$ to the death chamber.. Can any of these Hollywood despots name the victims that were slaughtered, or why no one is crying over the 45,951,133 aborted babies that will never have a Tookie book read to them..
No Jesse isnt going to perform a resurrection, But he is planning on making a lot of money on his next lecture tour .
When he says it isnt over he is saying it will keep him in Child support payments for the next year.
Just watch those pathetic excuses for humans in Sweden now award the Peace Prize to this piece of crap posthumously just to stick it in our eye.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.