High court says execute Crips founder (Stanley "Tookie" Williams)

AP - San Diego Union Tribune ^ | Oct 11, 2005 | David Kravets

[calcowgirl]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to take the case of California death row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a founder of the Crips street gang whose later work for peace won him Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

Williams, who has been praised for his children's books and efforts to curtail youth gang violence, likely will be executed in December if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not grant clemency. The 51-year-old former gang member claims Los Angeles County prosecutors violated his rights when they dismissed all potential black jurors.

Williams, who claims he is innocent, is in line to be one of three California condemned inmates to be executed within months. He was condemned for killing four people in 1981 and claims jailhouse informants fabricated testimony that he confessed to the murders.

"We feel very strongly that this is an appropriate case for clemency because of what Stan has accomplished," said Andrea Asaro, one of Williams' attorneys.

While in San Quentin State Prison, Williams has been nominated five times for a Nobel Peace Prize and four times for the Nobel Prize for literature for his series of children's books and international peace efforts intended to curtail youth gang violence. His case reached the justices following a February decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court, as did the Supreme Court, refused to grant Williams another hearing based on his argument that prosecutors violated his rights when they dismissed all potential black jurors from hearing the case.

The San Francisco appellate court had suggested he was a good candidate for clemency. The judges cited the children's books he has written from prison, in addition to messages of peace he posts on the Internet.

The California Criminal Justice Legal Foundation is urging against clemency, and no California governor has granted clemency to a condemned murderer since Ronald Reagan spared the life of a severely brain-damaged killer in 1967.

"Perhaps now he will finally get the punishment that a jury unanimously agreed he deserved," said the group's president, Michael Rushford.

Schwarzenegger has rejected clemency for the first two condemned men asking to commute their sentences to life without parole. In Schwarzenegger's latest rejection in January, he said an inmate's model behavior in prison was not enough to sway him to grant mercy. That inmate, Donald Beardslee, was executed days later.

Williams and a high school buddy, Raymond Washington, started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971.

Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a Whittier convenience store worker. He also was convicted of using a shotgun a few days later to kill two Los Angeles motel owners and their daughter during a robbery.

Last year, "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story" aired on television, prompting thousands of e-mail messages to Williams from young gang members who said his life story helped them turn their lives around.

"Today is a shameful day in the history of American jurisprudence," said Barbara Becnel, a Williams confidant who edited Williams' nine children's books. "Today the U.S. Supreme Court has said in its ruling essentially that it is OK for a white prosecutor to kick all of the African Americans off of a jury."

The justices, meanwhile, on Tuesday also set aside legal challenges from California condemned inmate Michael Morales, now 45, who raped and killed a 17-year-old Lodi girl whose body as found beaten and stabbed in a nearby vineyard 24 years ago. Authorities are seeking a February execution for Morales.

Among other things, Morales challenged a jury's finding that the murder was committed while torturing the victim - which was the basis for the death sentence.

Last week, the justices also paved the way for the execution of Clarence Allen, a leader of a Fresno crime ring who ordered three killings from Folsom State Prison where he already was serving time for murder. Prosecutors are seeking a January execution for Allen.

The cases are Williams v. Brown, 04-10500; Morales v. Brown, 05-23; Allen v. Brown, 04-10556.

[Rockpile]

This rodent may not be losing too much sleep over the ruling:

Executions in the modern era as of Oct 6----

California 11

Texas 350

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=186

[Publius Valerius]

You're a real humanitarian. I take it that you've never been in a prison or a jail. You know, I really don't hear the comments about how prisoners are "coddled" from folks who have set foot inside those places.

They are horrible, awful places.

[goldstategop]

A real sociopath. Underneath that wonderful pose for the TV cameras lies a heart of evil. Murder isn't a crime you can atone for by writing a couple of books and getting nominated for a Noble Prize. The victims' lives matter more. Time for Tookie to face the music.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[tamalejoe]

I've clearly given this one more thought than YOU have.

The word 'inquisitorial' means an inquiry, as opposed to some sort of a deal in which you either walk or go to prison based on whether your lawyer or some prosecutor put on a better show in front of a jury. There are too many people sitting around in prisons for shit they didn't do for that reason. In fact there are people like Frank Fuster still sitting around in prison for stuff that never even happened.

When they first started using DNA evidence they figured it might eliminate the prime suspect in felony cases in something like one or two percent of cases. They were in a state of shock when that turned out to be more like 35%. That translates into some huge number of people sitting around in prisons for stuff they didn't do since the prime suspect in a felony usually goes to prison.

Our entire justice system is a sick joke. Best advice I can give anybody: do everything you humanly can to avoid any contact with it.

[Skywalk]

The point is, better qualified people to speak on the issue (like those at KNowGangs,) have said that there is FAR more than that--like that the shotgun used was one he had PURCHASED.

Again, he wasn't convicted solely on that basis and 'four jailbirds' is kind of a distortion when you compare it to all his friends and accomplices implicating him. It's not like they didn't have evidence of THEIR involvement.

[rdcorso]

Tookie might be behaving himself in prison but that doesn't erase the four murders he committed.It seems like the guilty white liberals always fall all over some guilty black murderer because he claims the white man set him up.

[goldstategop]

Its Liberal White Guilt, Baby! Man, some people can be such suckers. Now when is Wesley Cook gonna fry??

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

Its Liberal White Guilt, Baby! Man, some people can be such suckers. Now when is Wesley Cook gonna fry??

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Celtic Conservative]

After reading this I have two things to say:

The red terminal is positive

The black terminal is negative

slainte,

CC

[azhenfud]

Gonna make him a charter member of the crisps.

[Tymesup]

"That court, as did the Supreme Court, refused to grant Williams another hearing based on his argument that prosecutors violated his rights when they dismissed all potential black jurors from hearing the case."

Why should prosecutors and/or defense have the right to dismiss jurors? There are twelve on a jury so that there is diversity. Once it is established that these folk are disinterested in the outcome of the trial, they should be seated.

Letting the lawyers pick the jury helps the lawyers, helps the side with the stronger team and hurts society. Jurors' time is wasted. Juries are less diverse than they would be. Jurors with expertise in a subject are dismissed, rather than sought.

Our system is upside down.

[Tymesup]

"The criteria has to be beyond any doubt whatsoever. Beyond a "reasonable doubt" just doesn't cut it for capital punishment; you can't unhang somebody when you screw up. "

Taking away a person's freedom for any length of time is also irreversible. Would you apply the same standard to incarceration?

"The person has to represent a continuing threat to the public should he ever escape or otherwise get out. "

If there is a deterrent effect to capital punishment, not punishing the guilty party causes harm to society.

[Map Kernow]

I live in "Crips Central"----the Greater LA area. The Crips are evil, murderous savages. I'm for executing as many as possible.

[festus]

An AP story reporting the claim of the founder of the Crips and the article never even reports the other side of the debate.

You sure seem to trust the unbiased MSM.

Founding the crips outta be grounds enough to roast marshmallows over his frying corpse IMHO.

[tamalejoe]

Like I say, if you've got real evidence to hang the guy, hang him. The article made it sound like all they had was the word of four jailbirds, which is pretty much worthless.

[AnAmericanMother]

"The present adversarial system of justice would have to be scrapped in favor of an inquisitorial system in which the common incentive for all parties involved would be to arrive at the truth and facts of the matter."

Huh. The French system. Which brought us miracles of justice like the Dreyfus affair. No thanks.

The Anglo-Saxon jury system is not perfect, but it is better than anything else anybody has tried.

[badgerlandjim]

The problem with life sentences is that they aren't for life.

[BraveMan]

Some of the evidence presented against Williams include:

• Alfred Coward, known as "Blackie" testified that Williams came to his home and went to James Garrett's home, where Williams was staying. Williams returned from inside the home with a sawed-off shotgun and another friend named Darryl. The group smoked some PCP and then picked up Tony Simms. The group of four made two unsuccessful robbery attempts, first at a restaurant and then at a liquor store. They then went to 7-Eleven committed the robbery where Williams killed Owens. Upon returning to Simm's home after the robbery, Williams explained to the group that he did not want to leave any witnesses. Williams also bragged that he picked up the shotgun shells, making it harder to obtain any evidence.
  
  Later the morning Coward heard Williams tell his brother "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him." Williams then made a growling noise and laughed hysterically.
  
  
• At the Brookhaven Motel where William's murdered the Yang family, the police recovered two shotgun shell casings. A firearms expert determined that one of the shells could have ONLY been fired from a weapon identified as having been purchased by Williams in 1974.
  
  
  
• Samuel Coleman testified that he saw Williams on March 10 at the Showcase Bar. He last saw him at the bar at 2:30 am. He saw Williams the next day. Williams bragged to Coleman that he robbed and killed some people on Vermont Street. Williams told him he was going to use the money to buy PCP.
  
  
• James Garrett testified that on March 13, 1979, Williams told them that some Chinese people had been killed on Vermont Street. Williams told them that he thought a professional killer must have done it. Williams then started making statements about the murder, with inside knowledge about the crimes, which had yet to be released to the public. He said that he heard the murder occurred at 5 am and that two men knocked down the door and had taken $600.00. Williams then said he heard the guy lying on the couch was "blown away", a woman at the register was shot twice and another woman was also shot. Williams then admitted to Garrett that it was he, who had done the murderers. Williams later talked about committing another motel robbery and Garrett tried to talk him about of it, stating there were too many people who stayed at the hotel. Williams then told Garrett, "No problem," he said, "I'll blow them away like I blew them away in the motel." Williams also expressed to Garrett the idea of killing Alfred Coward.
  
  
• Esther Garrett testified that Williams had inside knowledge of the murders. She heard him say that the 'killers' were using the money to buy "juice" (PCP). She also stated that Williams later admitted he committed the murder with his brother-in-law.
  
  
• George Oglesby was in the same cell block as Williams. In late April, 1979, Williams approached Oglesby with an escape plan complete with drawings. Williams also planned to kill a person on the bus who would testify against him with the assistance of two people on the outside. Williams talked about disarming a guard during the transfer from jail to court. The plan was later modified to blow up the bus to give him more time before authorities determined who had escaped. Williams also admitted to Oglesby that he robbed some people and shot a man, a woman and a child.
  
  
• Williams spoke to several other inmates about escaping and even showed another inmate places in the jail that were vulnerable to escape. He even told a few inmates that he was attempting to get some hacksaw blades into the jail. It was within days of making these comments, that two women were arrested for attempting to smuggle the blades into the facility.

[river rat]

Burn Motha F***** burn......

Semper Fi

[ThanhPhero]

after the letter and award was sent, the White House was trying to figure out who Tookie was, and what they should do now....

The White House did fine. Tookie has worked to redeem himself and he has repaid some of his crime with good works and it is right to recognize that, especially by a Christian president.

Perhaps he has exchanged Hell for a passage in Putgatory. His punishment for this world's sins should go on. His reward, whatever that may be, will come in the next world. Letting Tookie off now would be setting up a new system whereby murderers and rapists will have a lawyer guided course in Re-Demption and the criminal justice system will be SNAFU big time as far as our most heinous crimes are concerned.