Free Republic

San Francisco -- The petition to save the life of condemned former gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams reads more like poetry than a legal document — beginning and ending with a plea for the governor to carry out "an act of grace" and stop next month's scheduled execution. "We seek clemency for the man Stanley Williams has become, for the good work he has done, and for the good work he will continue to do," his lawyers wrote in the 13-page document delivered Tuesday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Stanley Williams stands in the shadow of death. We seek an act...

Authorities say convicted murderer roamed the country, remorselessly taking lives Convicted killer Jeremy Bryan Jones is a remorseless "monster" who roamed America for more than a decade, killing as many as 25 men, women and children, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday. Jones, 32, of Miami, Okla., was convicted of four counts of capital murder last week in a Mobile County courtroom in connection with the September 2004 slaying of Lisa Marie Nichols. The jury recommended that he be put to death by lethal injection. A Mobile County Sheriff's Office investigator said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference that Jones enjoyed...

DES MOINES (AP) --- A homeless man who's a registered sex offender was arrested after police said he grabbed a toddler and sexually assaulted her in the men's room of the downtown public library. Police hailed library workers who pulled the girl away from the man as heroes. James C. Effler Jr., 32, was charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree sexual assault and failure to comply with rules of the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, because he was not living at the address listed. Police said Effler grabbed a 20-month-old girl as she played near a computer being used by her babysitter....

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - As Dennis Rader begins serving his sentence, questions remain whether there are other unsolved murders he could have committed to which he never confessed - perhaps after the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994. Authorities said Friday they can connect 10 murders to the BTK killer, although they have evidence that Rader was involved in other burglaries. But they also acknowledged they never linked Rader to two Park City murders until he confessed to them after his capture. Rader had planned to kill again, and had even set a date: Oct. 22, 2004, Police...