Free Republic

(Demonstrators outside the gates of San Quentin State Prison protest at the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams.) (John G Mabanglo/EPA) Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the co-founder of the notorious Crips street gang, whose apparent rehabilitation in prison opened a bitter debate over the death penalty in America, was executed this morning in California. The 51-year-old died by lethal injection at 12.35am local time (8.35GMT) at San Quentin prison in front of about 50 witnesses, including relatives of the four people he killed in 1979. He asked his own family not to attend. Williams was denied a stay of execution by...

A few dozen people gathered in front of the state Capitol on Monday to protest the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams and also to denounce police brutality and what they say is poor media coverage of that issue. The rally was organized by Earl Armstrong, whose brother, Thomas Charles Armstrong, was injured during an encounter with Denver police on Nov. 11. Thomas Armstrong was scheduled to appear at the rally but did not show up. "He's signing off the life and death of a man he's not fit to lick the boots of," Churchill said.

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,...