Posted on 11/08/2005 12:55:26 PM PST by SmithL
San Francisco -- The petition to save the life of condemned former gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams reads more like poetry than a legal document beginning and ending with a plea for the governor to carry out "an act of grace" and stop next month's scheduled execution.
"We seek clemency for the man Stanley Williams has become, for the good work he has done, and for the good work he will continue to do," his lawyers wrote in the 13-page document delivered Tuesday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Stanley Williams stands in the shadow of death. We seek an act of grace."
Last month, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge set a Dec. 13 execution date for Williams, 51, who was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a Whittier convenience store worker. He also was convicted of killing two Los Angeles motel owners and their daughter during a robbery.
His appeals were exhausted in early October after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. However, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suggested in a 2002 decision that Williams was a good candidate for clemency.
Williams, a founding member of the Crips gang, decided to change his life during six years in solitary confinement, according to the petition.
"He dedicated his life to doing whatever he could, from where he was, to end gang violence to warn others of the errors of the path he had followed," the petition says.
He decided in 1993 to write children's books. Ten books, including Williams'"Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence" series and his autobiography, "Blue Rage, Black Redemption," were included with the petition. Lawyers also sent a copy of the television movie about Williams' life, "Redemption: The Stan 'Tookie' Williams Story,"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
...who was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a Whittier convenience store worker. He also was convicted of killing two Los Angeles motel owners and their daughter during a robbery.
Yes, good work Tookie. Now, if you'll step over here, Rusty has a nice chair for you.
Ask God for mercy, Tookie, I'm fresh out....
That's right -- just like Rocky Sullivan in "Angels With Dirty Faces". He goes to the chair screaming, kicking and crying so the Dead End kids no longer see him as a hero.
That's one of the funniest misplaced replies I've ever read on FR. OTOH, seeing as this guy is in prison, sitting on the toilet could be a hazard.
I agree with this. He may be totally reformed and a decent person now. However he should realize that our society needs the deterrent effect of capital punishment. A truly reformed person would realize and accept that he deserves this fate.
Wrong thread.
If his message of redemption is strong now, just imagine how much of an impact it will be to say that he went to his death to show how terrible the gang-banging life was.
Stanley Williams cast the shadow of death.
Sorry pal you made your choices and your going to have to abide by the consequences of those choices.
The liberal do-gooders who are trying to spare your life are as complicit in those murders as you are.
see ya
Insert 60Hz buzz here
The only thing surprising about this is that he has made it thankfully 24 years without getting killed in prison and hopefully at Justices hand.
Fry him!
Hang him
The best warning to show the errors of the path he had followed is for kids to read that he had a needle put in his arm and was finally put to sleep.
this is will smith"s main man >>>>>he said he was going to arnold personally>> scum bag!
Fry Tookie (then Mumia)
Sentenced to death 25 years ago. Time to say goodbye.
Heres my non death row poetry...
"Die.Die.Die.for the crime. You're crime. You did it. Now feel the voltage. Die. Die. You victimizer. Die. Go to the big crip in the sky. Die"
Any 'documentary' or 'docu-drama' with a title of the form: "Blah-de-Blah: the Joe "Goobie" Schmoe Story" is worthless.
It's a law of nature.
Rocky Sullivan he ain't.(I tried but failed to affix a picture of Cagney,my HTML skills suck).
What a friggin' joke! You want a good candidate?HERE! Here's your good candidate!
...I just did something potentially obscene ... oh never mind ... it's California AND it's SF and it's everywhere!
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.