Posted on 12/12/2005 4:23:17 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Hours after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency Monday for convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, lawyers for the Crips street gang co-founder filed a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution.
Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, Williams is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET) at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who met with Williams earlier in the day, criticized Schwarzenegger for deciding not to spare Williams.
Jackson said Williams, who was convicted of killing four people in two 1979 robberies in Los Angeles, had earned clemency and that Schwarzenegger's decision was about "making politicians look tough, but that does not make it right."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Get over yourself.
Oh, and btw, welcome to Free Republic.
37 posted on 12/12/2005 4:45:18 PM PST by markomalley
You're going to be disappointed.
"Killer's lawyers file last-ditch appeal"
I looked at the title and said "CNN wrote that?". But that is not the current CNN title for the story. (Their actual tiltle is not what I expected either. I expected "Book author's lawyers file last-ditch appeal.")
The destination of Tookie's soul is G-d's judgement. I just want to be sure he makes it to the hearing on time.
Gas Chamber
In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its inmates. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas. The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon's cell while he slept. This proved impossible because the gas leaked from his cell, so the gas chamber was constructed. (Bohm, 1999) Today, five states authorize lethal gas as a method of execution, but all have lethal injection as an alternative method. A federal court in California found this method to be cruel and unusual punishment. The last use of a gas chamber was on March 3, 1999, when Walter LaGrand, a German national, was executed in Arizona.
For execution by this method, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is typically affixed to the inmate so that a doctor outside the chamber can pronounce death. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who flicks a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. (Weisberg, 1991)
The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most prisoners, however, try to hold their breath, and some struggle. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately. According to former San Quenton, California, Penitentiary warden, Clifton Duffy, "At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool" (Weisberg, 1991).
Caryl Chessman, before he died in California's gas chamber in 1960, told reporters that he would nod his head if it hurt. Witnesses said he nodded his head for several minutes (Ecenbarger, 1994). According to Dr. Richard Traystman of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, "The person is unquestionably experiencing pain and extreme anxiety...The sensation is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack, where essentially the heart is being deprived of oxygen." The inmate dies from hypoxia, the cutting-off of oxygen to the brain (Weisberg, 1991).
At postmortem, an exhaust fan sucks the poison air out of the chamber, and the corpse is sprayed with ammonia to neutralize any remaining traces of cyanide. About a half an hour later, orderlies enter the chamber, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves. Their training manual advises them to ruffle the victim's hair to release any trapped cyanide gas before removing the deceased (Weisberg, 1991).
Heck, why waste good ammo when you can drop a pill?
Of course, the steel needle is the method of sending this POS to judgement. Seems the Gas Chamber was ruled cruel and unusual.
Only, being innocent, and having your life extinguished seems to be forgotten as the legacy media attempts to make this murderer into a docile, remormed "martyr."
I take no delight in the death of another, nor do I mourn the passing of "Tookie"
Release the hounds and cry havoc.
Well I know I'll get picked on for saying what I believe ...but I believe people can change, 25 years is a long time. I know I'm not the same person I was just a few years ago....and as a Christian I can't believe that killing someone fixes anything. If he's behind bars all his life what is he going to do other than write more books? Killing is a hate crime! The Bible does say an eye for an eye and all that but that's only one verse..It says more about forgiveness and loving other people. 99% of people on death row were horribly abused as children on a daily basis...If children are not taught love and respect by their parents where are they supposed to get that from. Maybe we should start punishing people who torture their children more...instead of killing off people who have only known hate and abuse most of their lives....and no I don't think anyone getting murdered is something to make little jokes about..No matter how wrong you think what he did was.
I just read where his best selling anti gang childrens book sold 300 copies and was written by his girl friend.
Welcome to FR.
How, then, can you say he has changed?
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)
I was browsing a death penalty site and since 1976 there has been 3 hangings and 2 firing squad executions. ...forget what states?
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