He is definitely going to wimp out on this one.
I think Arnold is doing it so people will believe that he looked at and considered everything. Unfortunately, for Tookie, but fortunately for society, the Terminator had to terminate him. When Tookie leaves for his final journey on the gurney, he won't say to the guy in the next cell, "I'll be back."
Yup.
I don't know enough details to know what the correct decision is in this case.
But I can assure Arnold that he should not let any hope of good pr from the MSM affect his decisions in the least bit. Every GOP office holder should remember how well G.H.W. Bush was treated in the early 1990s after finally relenting on raising taxes after all the commentators said he would, he should, it was the only decent thing to do etc.
They savaged G.H.W. Bush for raising taxes just as they will savage Arnold whether he communtes this sentence or not. Thus Arnold should do what ever the evidence leads him to do. He should expect nor hope no gain from behaving the way the Dims demand.
I hope that I am wrong but my gut feeling is that Arnold will grant clemency.