Free Republic

December 13, 2005 - San Quentin Prison is now preparing for the execution of its next death row inmate, Fresno's Clarence Ray Allen. Allen was convicted of arranging a triple murder at a Fresno County market. In 1980, three young people were shot to death in the market by a hired hit man as part of an effort to cover a past crime. Now, after a quarter of a century, preparations are underway for his execution. He is 75 years old, has suffered a stroke and has heart problems, but he is still scheduled to be put to death...

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — FOX News correspondent Adam Housley was one of 39 people who witnessed the Tuesday morning execution of Stanley Tookie Williams. Williams was convicted in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier, Calif., and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, as well as the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned. Williams claimed he was innocent, but witnesses at the trial said he boasted about the killings, saying, "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him." This...

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) -- Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed early Tuesday. Williams, 51, died at 12:35 a.m. Officials at San Quentin State Prison seemed to have trouble injecting the lethal mixture into his muscular arm. As they struggled to find a vein, Williams looked up repeatedly and appeared frustrated, shaking his head at supporters and other witnesses. "You doing that right?" it sounded as if he asked one of the men with a needle. After he was declared dead,...

Stanley Tookie Williams executed Crips gang co-founder put to death for 4 murders Tuesday, December 13, 2005; Posted: 3:38 a.m. EST (08:38 GMT) SAN QUENTIN, California (CNN) -- Convicted killer and Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams was executed early Tuesday at the California state prison at San Quentin. The execution went ahead as scheduled after the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday rejected a last-ditch appeal. The high court's ruling followed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny clemency for Williams, 51, who received a lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET).

If not Death, then what? A personal look at capital crime and punishment December 13, 2005 by John David Powell If not Death, then what? Thoughtful individuals across the social and political spectra ponder this question today as they search for a suitable punishment for history’s longest-running crime. Capital crime and punishment is not a subject I enjoy. It became personal on Oct. 26, 1981. Don’t let anyone tell you time heals all wounds. It does not. And the recent debate over whether a state should execute a convicted murdering thug just keeps open the wound. Sometimes I bring it...

The execution of convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams was a defiant, determined and messy affair -- surprising right up to the bitter end, just like his unfortunate life. From the moment five guards walked him into the death chamber at 11:59 p.m. until 36 minutes later when Williams' heart stopped beating, the 51-year-old former gangster and his supporters tried their hardest to get through his final minutes on earth on their own terms. And they succeeded, as well as could be done under the circumstances -- and certainly more than in any of the 11 other executions since 1992, when...

As we watched the build up to the “Tookie” Williams’ execution last night, I was struck by the amount of bleeding heart liberals who came out pleading for the life of the founder of one of Los Angeles and the Nation’s most notorious gangs. This is a man who was convicted of the brutal slaying of four innocent people twenty five years ago and had a full quarter century to appeal his conviction. I propose a trade with the Left. They obviously care more for the life of convicted murderers than they do unborn children. Therefore, I propose trading capital...

by JR Tookie Williams, the co-founder of the violent Crips street gang, was executed by lethal injection at 12:01 AM for the 1979 robbery murders of four people in Los Angeles. The execution went ahead as scheduled after the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday rejected a last-minute appeal. The high court's ruling followed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny clemency for Williams. "Based on the cumulative weight of the evidence, there is no reason to second-guess the jury's decision of guilt or raise significant doubts or serious reservations about Williams' convictions and death sentence," Schwarzenegger said in a five-page...

As a Catholic, I hold a respect for all human life; even that which has not demonstrated itself worthy of such. My case in point is one Stanley Williams (aka. “Tookie”). This man helped form one of the most ruthless and bloodthirsty street gangs in modern history. Although, after roughly an hour worth of searching, I can’t find any solid statistics to back up the vast number of claims circling the internet, from what I gather, the group is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, not-to-mention the thousands of youths whose lives have been destroyed by...

THE CASE AGAINST STANLEY WILLIAMS by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher December 12, 2005 Barring the unexpected wherein Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) (right) grants clemency to convicted capital murderer and Crips co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Stanley will get up close and personal with the death chamber just before midnight tonight as he is strapped to a gurney. At 12:01, the lethal cocktail of chemicals will flow into his veins and end - once and for all - the life of this barbarian, and like Timothy McVeigh and others of his ilk, he, too, can ride the Highway to Hell, where...

THEY'RE JUST LOOKING FOR A EXCUSE, NOT A REASON. The California Supreme Court has now had its last say in the case of murderer Tookie Williams. No stay of execution. It's now up to Governor Schwarzenegger. Tookie's supporters are pulling out all of the stops. Now they've even come up with a last-minute witness that can prove Tookie's innocence. Yeah, sure. Don't you just love those "last-minute witness" things? Who is on Tookie's side here? Well, we have pretty much the normal cast of characters. We have the NAACP, of course, and we have actors and rappers. There's also the...

The procedure for executing a prisoner in San Quentin, the only prison in California with a death chamber, is bound by rigid rules dictating when and how each act must be performed -- from the moment the inmate wakes up on his last day of life until the moment he dies. * * * "We try to keep this very professional," said prison spokesman Sgt. Eric Messick. "I can't see it being done any other way -- you have to treat everyone, especially the inmate, with dignity and respect. This is a very somber event." * * * If the...

FREEP ARNOLD: Don't Be A Capital Punishment Girly-Man (TOOKIE MUST DIE) It's time to contact California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and urge him to permit justice to run served--victim's rights demand Tookie's Termination. Posts to FR threads probably won't be seen by him or his staff--it's preaching to the choir. Posts to the Official Governor of California Governor web site WILL be seen by his staff. Please go there and THEN also bump and ping this thread. Let's do it nicely, but firmly. Thanks. Tookie's victims and our society is counting on us. Below is a sample message. -------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Type...

Death Row Dilemma Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faces difficult political and humanitarian choices in the battle over clemency for convicted killer Tookie Williams. WEB EXCLUSIVE By Karen Breslau Newsweek Updated: 1:02 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2005 Dec. 8, 2005 - As an action hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger dispatched villains with a hail of hot lead and a satisfied clench of his muscled jaw. As governor—and a politically humbled one at that—Schwarzenegger will find no such closure in the agonizing decision he faces in the case of death-row inmate Stanley (Tookie) Williams.

Have you contacted Gov. Arnold's office about the clemency for Tookie Williams? Last week, I mailed a letter to his Sacramento office, urging him to deny clemency... The media is trying to create the impression that there is a big public support for granting clemency... Gov. Arnold should hear from citizens who want the execution to take place...

BEIJING, December 5, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) ? Chinese officials have admitted to selling the organs of executed prisoners to foreign transplant recipients. Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu admitted that the practice is common, while promising to change the policy. ?We want to push for regulations on organ transplants to standardise the management of the supply of organs from executed prisoners and tidy up the medical market,? Huang said, as reported by the UK?s Times on Line.A liver sells to a foreign recipient for approximately $41,000 USD, the Times stated. Although a religious tradition in China maintains that the body must be...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein told the judge at his trial Monday that "I am not afraid of execution" during an unruly court session in which the first witness took the stand and testified that the former president's agents carried out random arrests, torture and killings. The outburst was one of several by Saddam or his co-defendants at the trial that also saw a brief walkout by his defense lawyers. At one point, Saddam appeared to threaten the judge, saying: "When the revolution of the heroic Iraq arrives, you will be held accountable." Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin replied: "This...

Dec. 2. — With the final words “God bless everybody in here”, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000th prisoner to be put to death in the USA since the death penalty was reinstated a quarter of a century ago. His death came after both Governor Mr Mike Easley and the US Supreme Court declined to intervene and stop the execution. “Having carefully reviewed the facts and circumstances of these crimes and convictions, I find no compelling reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdicts affirmed by the state and federal courts,’’ Mr Easley said in a statement issued a...

RALEIGH, N.C. - A man who killed his wife and father-in-law awaited lethal injection early Friday in the nation's 1,000th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Kenneth Lee Boyd, set to die at 2 a.m., spent the day visiting family and friends. Late Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley denied Boyd's clemency request. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Supreme Court and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected final appeals by Boyd's lawyers. "We went in and told him the governor turned him down and he handled it well," said Boyd's lawyer, Thomas Maher, who was among a succession...

BREAKING NEWS This story is from our news.com.au network Source: Reuters State awaits 1000th execution By Andy Sullivan in Raleigh, North Carolina 02dec05 DEATH penalty opponents marched by candlelight to a North Carolina prison as the state prepared to execute the 1000th prisoner in the US since capital punishment was reinstated nearly 30 years ago. Less than four hours before Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, was scheduled to die by lethal injection for shooting his wife and father-in-law in 1988 in front of two of his children, state Governor Mike Easley said he was denying clemency. The US Supreme Court had...