Gang leader to be Executed

[pies4ever]

Gang leader to be executed
13dec05

CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has refused to spare the life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a gang leader turned anti-violence activist, hours before his scheduled execution.

California courts also rejected legal appeals and Williams, who has been at the centre of one of the biggest anti-death penalty campaigns in decades, is now set to die by a lethal injection at one minute past midnight (7.01pm AEDT) at the San Quentin jail near San Franciso.
Schwarzenegger agonized for three days over his decision after a meeting with Williams lawyers and prosecutors.

"Clemency cases are always difficult and this one is no exception," Schwarzenegger said.

"After studying the evidence, searching the history, listening to the arguments and wrestling with the profound consequences, I could find no justification for granting clemency.

"The facts do not justify overturning the jury's verdict or the decisions of the courts in this case."

Williams, a founder of the Crips gang that terrorised Los Angeles in the 1970s, was found guilty in 1981 of four murders during two robberies.

But while on death row he has insisted he is innocent of the murders, renounced his gang past and written books aimed at persuading youths to reject gang violence.

Williams has been supported by a star-studded list of celebrities and campaigners who say the once-feared gang leader should be spared because of his activism. Hollywood celebrities, including actors Jamie Foxx and Danny Glover, rapper Snoop Dogg, African-American leaders and opponents of the death penalty have championed Williams' case.

Civil rights activists Jesse Jackson has been among those who say Williams should be spared.

Standing outside San Quentin after a meeting with Williams, Jackson said that the Governor had chosen "revenge over redemption and to use 'Tookie' Williams as a trophy in the flawed system".

Jackson said he met with Williams for 25 minutes and the two had prayed together. "He had a sense of inner peace. He has been in the valleys and channels of death before. He did not fear evil."

Jackson said Williams did not want a violent response to his troubles. "He does not want any violent expression or street ugliness to mar that teaching," Jackson said.

The outspoken civil rights campaigner said that killing Williams "is a way of making politicians look tough. It does not make it right. It does not make any of us safer, it does not make any of us more secure."

Lawyers for Williams pursued increasingly desperate bids to get courts to intervene.

The California Supreme Court late Sunday turned down a new appeal to rehear the case. Reports said a state appeals court also rejected an application yesterday.

One of the lawyers, Jan Handzlik, said appeals were also planned to federal courts.

The condemned man's defenders also produced what they said was a new witness who could clear Williams.

According to court documents, a former prisoner has testified that sheriff's deputies fed incriminating evidence to a witness who testified against Williams at his 1981 trial, and forged Williams' handwriting to create bogus evidence.

"I specifically recall him telling me he was 'gonna put that [snip] away,' and 'that Shotgun Crip is gonna do time,' referring to Mr. Williams," Gordon Bradbury Von Ellerman, 46, said in an affidavit.

Von Ellerman said he was in a Los Angeles County jail cell with another prisoner, Roger Oglesby, who was given crime reports from deputies so that he could practice Williams' signature.

Lawyers said the information was sent to Schwarzenegger's office before his decision was announced.

Williams, now 51, was a co-founder of the notorious Crips gang.

He was found guilty of killing one man in the back of the head in one robbery and a Chinese couple and their daughter at point blank range in the second raid.

On death row he has gained celebrity as an anti-violence crusader. An author of books urging children to steer clear of gangs, Williams has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Williams has not apologized for the killings, contending he would "rather die than lie" by admitting to the murders.

AFP
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17552127^661,00.html

[Proud Pies]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17558477-23109,00.html

has been done


Former gang leader executed
From: AAP

December 13, 2005


FORMER Crips gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams has been executed by lethal injection at California's San Quentin State Prison as punishment for murdering four people during robberies in 1979.


The execution in the high-profile case follows California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's rejection of a clemency petition and the denial of last-minute legal appeals by top courts.

[The Prototype]

I cannot say I am sorry that his life wasn't spared.

[skaman]

An oxygen thief!..........next!

[BBHS]

one of snoops home boys

[Proud Pies]

[thesleepysupporter]

he did work incredibly hard in recent years in the anti-gang movement, yet that weighed against his crimes i can see why arnie didn't grant clemency.

[David]

one could look fairly cynically on that I suppose... either he really had repented or he was just trying to look like a good guy so he would be spared the death penalty.

[The Prototype]

Just because he turned good after he murdered, doesn't mean his crimes magicly go away. Would he have turned that way if he was not arrested? Probably not.

[Eunos]

Haha....aren't all criminals sorry and changed AFTER they get caught?

Not many serial killers stopped their trade before the law caught up with them.

[The Prototype]

[Eunos]

[The Prototype]

Gods a she now? I seriously need to keep up, so he is she, and she is black, not white, yes?

[Eunos]

[skaman]

..and a baby seal pup!...named Serge! (Mr.Hell Show!)