Posted on 12/11/2005 12:26:59 PM PST by 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
Bush gave the POS an award???
Time for the Tookie man to ride the lightning.
Clemency??? You've got to be kidding. I thought Arnold had more guts than that. Ok, so the taxpayers have been feeding and clothing him for a couple decades, 30 days isn't going to matter that much.
But he's such a gooood boy. All those nominations and such. Bet his mama is soooo proud!
Those mean other kids were lying about him and he's really, really sorry for some of the things he's done. Not all, but some.
He found someone who could write and they wrote a couple of comic books and they made literally dozens of children worship a killer,....I mean, learn to avoid joining the murderous gang he founded and still supports,....I mean, whatever it was supposed to have done. He's like a Nobel prize nominee for cripes sake!
But how in the F@#$ did that citation from the President come about?
No decision has been made yet.
I think Arnold said a decision would be made by 3PM Pacific time today.
And deprive the worms of a quick meal? You're mean. ;-)
"we should hang him most of all cuz hes a poor black boy As a conservative republican I oppose freedom and support the killing of the weak and defenseless."
Now that was an extremely fast troll zotting! LOL!
Tookie asks for emergency stay
...
The ghosts of Tookies murder victims,
"Tookie we asked you for mercy, why didn't you give us emergency stay, why Tookie, why?"
*** Victims Rights Now ***
Arnold may be waiting til the weekend is over. Many people go to work on Monday ... instead of being about to riot Saturday and Sunday.
I think clemency will be denied.
Wasn't this his defense 25 years ago? Was a young Mark Furman patrolling the area at the time?
It sure was a faster than lightening zot! Didn't even have time to respond to that bad apple....I mean "bad pie". LOL
As to whether what he has done will make it good in the eternities...well, there is an final Arbitrator there who will make that decision. Based on what he did, I believe tookie should get an audience in front of that final Arbitrator as quickly as possible.
They sure can geta lot for their money, considering the "sale of books" is what? 330 kiddie books? Why would he be selling them if he's such a philanthropist? And how the HE!L much is he charging for them?
I tried to get a comment in but it was zapped! FreeRepublic - the quick and the dead!
Certainly, lethal injection will be less painful than a 12-gauge blast to the face or lower spine. AND, he's has 26 years to say his good-byes -- much more time than he gave his victims.
I was thinking that Arnold is waiting for the police chief to let him know that they are ready for the riots that will most likely begin when Arnold announces his decision. I think clemency will be denied too.
State Supreme court: " Let us think that over, Tookie, we'll get back with you....say, Wednesday or thursdayish."
I'm thinking that if he were going to grant clemency he would have announced it by now. I think he wants to wait until the end of the weekend to forestall any possible rioting.
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