Tookie asks for emergency stay

See BS News dot com ^ | 12-11-05

[doug from upland]

CBSNEWS.COM Los Angeles Dec. 11, 2005

(AP) A lawyer for convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams asked the state Supreme Court to stay his execution, saying the Crips gang co-founder should have been allowed to argue that someone else killed one of his four alleged victims.

Attorney Verna Wefald filed a petition Saturday challenging the validity of the four convictions and death sentences given in 1981 to Williams, who is scheduled to die Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison. She also filed an emergency request seeking a stay, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Williams' lawyers also have asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency, saying Williams has redeemed himself as shown by his books urging children not to join gangs. Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday the governor had not made a decision.

Williams was convicted of killing a man during a robbery in February 1979 and of murdering a couple and their daughter at a South Los Angeles motel in March 1979.

Williams denies committing the murders but has apologized for co-founding the Crips, the gang blamed for numerous murders in Los Angeles and beyond.

From behind bars, Williams has been nominated five times for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to quell gang violence and four times for a Nobel Prize in literature.

In August, Williams received a President's Call to Service Award for his good deeds on death row, complete with a letter from President Bush praising him for demonstrating "the outstanding character of America."

The money from the sale of his books is used to support at-risk youth programs and to continue his appeals, his lawyers said.

Wefald's petition argues that prosecutors failed to disclose at trial that witness Alfred Coward was not a U.S. citizen and had a violent criminal history, depriving Williams of the opportunity to argue Coward was the killer in the February 1979 robbery.

Coward is now in prison in Canada for killing a man during a robbery.

"All of the witnesses who implicated Williams were criminals who were given significant incentives to testify against him and ongoing benefits for their testimony," Wefald wrote.

"This type of testimony is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in murder and capital cases in the United States," she wrote, citing a study from Northwestern University Law School's Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Wefald declined to comment Saturday night.

The California Supreme Court, a federal court judge in Los Angeles, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court have all upheld Williams' convictions

[Enterprise]

Who knows what Tookies nimrod followers will do. They might riot, and they might just wait a while. There have been reports that statements have been made that there will be violence if he is executed.

[rodguy911]

i listened to a Calif. talk show host,Tammie Bruce, last night who said if Arnold gives into this hood his political career is over.She's right.It's probably over anyway.

[BunnySlippers]

Even the L.A. Times had an article last week about the Nobel Prize and how just about anyone can get nominated.

[Chena]

I know very little about the process. Someone said that Arnold didn't have to make an announcement and just run down the clock. If there is no clemency, why make a statement?

I also know very little about the process. Your question is a good one, BunnySlippers. I hadn't thought about that.

[Jigsaw John]

Arnie is twisting the knife?

Well since he gave his victims little chance, and no time to prepare, lets hope that is what Schwarzenegger is doing.

[digger48]

Unless he runs as a Democrat, I think Arnolds political career is already pretty much over. Even if he poked the needle in Tookie himself, I don't think he'll ever win re-election. Massive forces working against him aren't going to let it end up like the recall election.IMO

[doug from upland]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA - KFI's Bill Handel has S. California congressman nominate him for Nobel Peace Prize
KFI ^ | 12-1-05 | DFU


Posted on 12/01/2005 3:42:15 PM PST by doug from upland


(You must register to hear this, but it only takes a few minutes).
http://kfi640.com/podcastlogin.html
LISTEN TO THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ON THIS MORNING'S SHOW


Note: on a personal note, this guy banned me from calling his show several years ago after I called Bill Clinton a rapist on his show. Hey, that's okay. This stunt is pretty cool, so I'll give him credit for it.

---

In an effort to mock the Nobel Peace Prize nominations, William Wulf Handel, morning host on KFI 640 in Los Angeles, convinced a S. California congressman to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Price. The congressman did it with the promise that his name would never be revealed. He was apparently embarrassed, but went along with the prank.


Handel read the letter on the air (the link above) and just appeared on the John and Ken show to discuss it.


Handel is pulling the stunt because of the Nobel Peace Prize nominations of murdering scum Stanley "Tookie" Williams, set for letal injection at San Quentin on Dec. 13. Tookie brutally murdered four people and is still alive well over two decades later.


Williams is the darling of the leftist Hollywood crowd, including Mike Farrell and Snoop Dogg. They don't want him to die. He co-authored a few children's books and has supposedly spoken out about gang violence. The psychopath has actually convinced some fools that he has redeemed himself. That redemption, of course, does not include admitting what he did or turning in other murderers.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I really doubt that he is, but we can hope.

[rodguy911]

I think you are right. Arnold had a chance to be Reaganesque and he blew it.

[LK44-40]

Unless he runs as a Democrat, I think Arnolds political career is already pretty much over.

I agree. C'est fini. It could be, though, that all Arnie is concerned about now is avoiding cold nights at home.

(Of course, if that is his concern, he should not have married an anorexic in the first place, especially not a leftie one, although that is almost the only kind).

[F.J. Mitchell]

By golly, I believe I will nominate myself for one. I'm not worried about having an impressive Resume anymore, but mention of a Nobel nomination would spice up one's obituary, wouldn't it?

[NapkinUser]

No-doubt a frivolus last-ditch effort. It will be laughed out of court.

"See BS News dot com"

You went to far with the "dot com" part.

[Shaun_MD]

After watching the Green Mile I decided that I'd rather have people like Tookie ride Ole Sparky! Lethal injection is too good for these guys. I won't soak the sponge either.

[Tennessee_Bob]

I saw an interesting proposal from Ted Hayes on Tookie. I got it from Michael Bowen's website http://www.mdcbowen.org/cobb/

I PROPOSE that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, rather than unequivocally deciding to save Stanley Tookie Williams or send the convicted murderer to his death next week, instead conditionally postpone his execution.

The governor should then immediately convene a summit, including not only clergy, grass-roots leaders and elected representatives such as Maxine Waters and Diane Watson, but also current and former Bloods and Crips. The deal: He will spare Williams' life, but only as long as these leaders can keep young black men from killing each other.

In other words, for every 30 days of peace, Tookie receives a stay of execution. Should there be any gang-related killings in L.A., Tookie's fate will be sealed — not by the governor but by the young men who have been clamoring that Williams be spared and the leaders who say they are determined to save black lives. (And those leaders should be the ones to set the murder-acceptability level — at zero tolerance or massacre levels; let it be up to them.)

This is an opportunity to (1) empower young blacks to play a role in saving one of their own; (2) educate them on the role of nonviolent solutions to societal problems; (3) let African American leaders step up and do what they're always talking about — saving children and healing the brokenness in our community.

[doug from upland]

Albert Owens.

[eleni121]

Besides murdering people Tookie writes too. Here is a little something he wrote:

Redemption : From Original Gangster to Nobel Prize Nominee - The Extraordinary Life Story of Stanley Tookie Williams (Paperback)
by Stanley Williams

By the way according to my information he was nominated for the Noble Prize for Literature (yup for real) several times by a professor of "I don't know what kind of" philosophy at Notre Dame University. Anyone know who it is?

[Jigsaw John]

Well, that's a threat, isn't it?

Actually, it was a facetious statement.

[doug from upland]

I don't care if there never is another gang killing. Tookie must die for what he did.

[Cvengr]

He doesn't need an emergency stay, .. just press his collars instead,...they'll last the next 3 days.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Oh, I'm not arguing that he shouldn't. In fact, I believe he should. I think the proposal is interesting from the point of view that were he granted the stay, it's likely that not 24 hours would go by before there was a killing.