I suggest for Tookie's next book, he write "DEATH In Prison," but he'd better write fast.
Posted on 12/12/2005 12:58:46 PM PST by Born Conservative
SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang who awaited execution early Tuesday in a case that stirred debate over capital punishment and the possibility of redemption on death row. Williams, 51, is set to die by injection at San Quentin State Prison after midnight for murdering four people in two 1979 holdups.
Hollywood stars and death penalty opponents mounted a campaign to save his life, making him one of the nation's biggest death-row cause celebres in decades. His supporters argued that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had made amends during more than two decades in prison by writing a memoir and children's books about the dangers of gangs.
Prosecutors and victims' advocates contended Williams was undeserving of clemency from the governor because he did not own up to his crimes and refused to inform on fellow gang members. They also argued that the Crips gang that Williams co-founded in Los Angeles in 1971 is responsible for hundreds of deaths, many of them in battles with the rival Bloods for turf and control of the drug trade.
Williams stands to become the 12th California condemned inmate executed since lawmakers reinstated the death penalty in 1977 after a brief hiatus.
Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down a clerk in a convenience store holdup and a mother, father and daughter in a motel robbery weeks later. Williams claimed he was innocent.
The last time a California governor granted clemency was in 1967, when Ronald Reagan spared a mentally infirm killer.Schwarzenegger _ a Republican who has come under fire from members of his own party as too accommodating to liberals _ rejected clemency twice before during his two years in office.
Less than 12 hours before the execution was set to take place, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals said it would not intervene because, among other things, there was no "clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence."
In his last-ditch appeal, Williams claimed that he should have been allowed to argue at his trial that someone else killed one of the four victims, and that shoddy forensics connected him to the other killings.
Williams was convicted of killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at a Los Angeles motel the family owned, and Albert Owens, 26, a 7-Eleven clerk gunned down in Whittier.
Among the celebrities who took up Williams' cause were Jamie Foxx, who played the gang leader in a cable movie about Williams; rapper Snoop Dogg, himself a former Crip; Sister Helen Prejean, the nun depicted in "Dead Man Walking"; Bianca Jagger; and former "M A S H" star Mike Farrell. During Williams' 24 years on death row, a Swiss legislator, college professors and others nominated him for the Nobel Prizes in peace and literature.
"If Stanley Williams does not merit clemency," defense attorney Peter Fleming Jr. asked, "what meaning does clemency retain in this state?"
The impending execution resulted in feverish preparations over the weekend by those on both sides of the debate, with the California Highway Patrol planning to tighten security outside the prison, where hundreds of protesters were expected.
A group of about three dozen death penalty protesters were joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson as they marched across the Golden Gate Bridge after dawn Monday en route to the gates of San Quentin, where they were expected to rally with hundreds of people.
At least publicly, the person apparently least occupied with his fate seemed to be Williams himself.
"Me fearing what I'm facing, what possible good is it going to do for me? How is that going to benefit me?" Williams said in a recent interview. "If it's my time to be executed, what's all the ranting and raving going to do?"
I suggest for Tookie's next book, he write "DEATH In Prison," but he'd better write fast.
Buh-bye, Tookie.
Snoop's a Crip. That's his founder they're about to put to sleep.
I have a hard time wishing that on anyone, even Tookie.
yes i have researched the case and imo the proof against that pos is irrefutable.
next
My heart goes out to you.
I was ambivalent about the death penalty but two words changed my mind forever: Timothy McVeigh.
I understand, and that's why I put in that comment. Each of us comes to our views from journeys that differ. Yours has has more tragedy than mine. I have known people who were murdered (and close to murdered), and if they were one degree closer to me, I'd probably view things as you do.
As it is, my own path has given me some exposure to the court system, and I can attest it is possible that wrong decisions can come down. (Don't worry, this isn't an ex-con talking.) The appeals process is no guarantee of justice either. At present I am unwilling to accept the chance of an innocent life taken by the State when the punishment of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is available.
But I do understand and respect your position, and sympathize with your anguish.
You mean to tell me that the 9th Circus "Parents have no rights over their kids' sex education" made a rational decision?
Why do you assume that you're the only one who can research the case? Stop harassing other people for their opinions. The jury convicted him, not FR.
Nobody but the Lord knows for sure whether Tookie is reconclied to Him or not. If Tookie be not clothed in Christ Jesus when his hearts stops, the wrath of God awaits. No amount of good works can forstall the wrath of God - only by believing that Jesus is the Christ can anyone be saved from their sin and the judgment that God metes out.
Romans 8:1 tells us "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus and walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Want peace with God when the world is trying to kill you? Believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved. Read the Bible, test it and prove it, and let it prove the Truth to you. "There is no other name in heaven or on the earth by which man must be saved."
In His grip of grace,
Manfred
www.MenofHonorMinistry.org
Amen to that!
Just broke the news to a liberal acquaintance. I said "looks like 'The Terminator' is going to live up to his name. He just said 'asta la vista, baby'". The lib was crest-fallen. He said "great, that's going to unleash a bunch of violence in L.A.". I said, "Wait a minute. You mean all those kids that read his books and turned away from violence are now going to riot?!" He said sheepishly "uhhh, no, it will be the friends of the guys who read the books". I then said "well, Tookie being redeemed and all, I'm sure he will issue a statement calling for CALM." Even the lib saw the ridiculous of the Tookie farce and said sarcastically "yeah, right".
McVeigh was executed quickly because he refused to go forward with any appeals. You're right, of course, in that we'll never know the extent but I wonder how much McVeigh would have given up. Terry Nichols is still alive, of course, so there may be some answers to be found there.
And you're completely spot on with Dahmer -- and the inmates took justice into their own hands in that case.
Not to me! I just got here today!
All the libs I have talked to about this did not believe Tookie deserved clemency.
You mean there is a little Tookie Crookie Jr.?
"So you have researched the case and know he's guilty?"
I didn't realize that everyone now has to be a juror on this case in order to wanting to see justice done.
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