Stanley "Tookie" Williams

[NUPE4LIFE]

How do you all feel about the calls for Clemency for Tookie Williams. If you don't know who he is, he's co-founder of the Crips. He's now on Death Row in California for murder. Now you have people like Snoop Dogg (former or current Crips member) and Jamie Foxx (Fox played him in an FX movie). Now I personally don't believe in the death penalty. However, I think that if that's the punishment that was handed out he should get executed. I understand that he has turned his life around but sometimes we must still pay for crimes that we committed in the past. I remember when Carla Faye Tucker was on Death Row in Texas for killing her boyfriend and his lover. She had found Jesus and people like Pat Robertson were asking for clemency. My thought on that is that if you've truly found Jesus then you know that death is not the end. She was eventually executed. So Tookie I'm sorry but you gotta take this one as a loss. Maybe your death will serve as further testament that being in a gang will only lead to death or jail.

[squirrely girl]

i don't know a lot about the specific case at hand AND i am personally opposed to the death penalty for ANYBODY - but...

i think it is a little bit of a slippery slope when death penalty verdicts start getting stayed for "people who have found jesus".

in my opinion - bullshit like that is why the damn death penalty is already inequitably applied.

just my thoughts...

- marissa

[abaici]

I am against the death penalty as well. So, I do not think he should die. I also know that redemption is real. However, I do not appreciate people erasing his sins completely. Yes, you are forgiven of your sins. However, there is ALWAYS a consequence. I don't know how many murders he personally committed. However, I DO KNOW that he is responsible for thousands of deaths in my city.

[NuThetaNupe]

I am personally against the death penalty, but I do respect that it is a form of punishment for some crimes committed. With that stated, I think if they give him clemency then they need to give everyone on death row clemency. I don't think he should be treated differently just because he has supposedly "reformed" himself.

[Steeltrap]

I would be surprised if Guv. Ah-nulhd of Kollyfornia grants him clemency. Schwarzie's poll numbers aren't great, and he probably needs to hold on to the law-and-order crowd (hard-core GOP who are already sort of suspicious of him) out here, because he's going into an election year.

[SPersuasion]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
I would be surprised if Guv. Ah-nulhd of Kollyfornia grants him clemency. Schwarzie's poll numbers aren't great, and he probably needs to hold on to the law-and-order crowd (hard-core GOP who are already sort of suspicious of him) out here, because he's going into an election year.

Exactly

I believe that Mr. Williams efforts while imprisoned have been inspirational to many people both in and outside of gang life. As many of you have mentioned, I too am opposed to the death penalty, I can't see how anyone who considers themselves "faithful"could support it, but that's another topic. However with realism kicking in high gear I don't see Arnold granting it to him unless the public opinion of his hard core supporters shifts. Looking at the past week or so it may be possible. With the protests and what I've been told hundreds of letters being written from within California, Tookie may have a fighting chance.

[ladygreek]

I am conflicted about the death penalty, mainly because of that one innocent person who may have been wrongly convicted. But by the same token, if you have wrecked havoc in so many people's lives by the killing of their loved ones, then I have very little sympathy.

It is interesting how many convicts find religion while in prison, only to forget about it once they get out. If I thought our prison system was really about rehabilitation, then I would totally oppose the death penalty. But you know what? Who eventually gets out alive are those who learned greater survival skills while incarcerated and may come out even more dangerous. I have witnessed it in my own family.

I applaud those who do come out changed for the better, but I believe it is more because of an embedded good foundation (which they rebelled against) that they were able to fall back on as opposed to a re-awakening in prison. Without that foundation, rehabilitation will not happen, and I don't think Tookie Williams has that foundation.

[RACooper]

Right I've got a question... now if he's granted clemecy does that mean he's released? or does it mean life in prison? Basically I want to know if it's an all or nothing when it comes down to it... cause personally I'm against the death penalty; but I see aboslutely nothing wrong with him spending the rest of his life in prison. Worst case he has the rest of his life to contemplate what he has done - best case he can do alot of good helping others turn themselves around.

[AKA2D '91]

He would get life in prison.

[NinjaPoodle]

I support the death penalty. Let the punishment fit the crime.

[mulattogyrl]

Originally posted by NuThetaNupe
I am personally against the death penalty, but I do respect that it is a form of punishment for some crimes committed. With that stated, I think if they give him clemency then they need to give everyone on death row clemency. I don't think he should be treated differently just because he has supposedly "reformed" himself.

I agree. I'm against the death penalty, but he shouldn't be treated differently because he is supposedly reformed.

[ladygreek]

State's high court won't spare Williams
Schwarzenegger could still stop execution of gang founder

Wednesday, November 30, 2005; Posted: 10:00 p.m. EST (03:00 GMT)


SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- California's Supreme Court Wednesday refused to stop the execution of convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the founder of the Crips street gang who became an anti-gang crusader while on Death Row, a court spokeswoman said.

Williams' attorney, Jonathan Harris, told CNN he was disappointed by the court's 4-2 decision.

But Harris said he plans to make a compelling case before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or his staff at a December 8 clemency hearing to commute Williams' sentence to life in prison without parole.

Schwarzenegger or a federal court could still intervene to stop the execution of Williams, who would turn 52 December 29.

The defense petitioned the high court November 10 to reopen the case.

Williams' lawyers alleged there was faulty testing of shell casings found near the scene of a triple slaying at a motel in 1979, said Natasha Minsker, director of death penalty policy for the American Civil Liberties Union.

She called the forensic evidence used in the case "junk science."

The defense also contended informants lied to prosecutors and sought to re-examine other evidence, she said.

Williams, who is scheduled to die by injection December 13, was convicted in the 1979 killings of four people. The first victim was a 17-year-old Los Angeles convenience store clerk.

Williams also was convicted of killing an immigrant couple and their daughter while stealing cash from their motel. Both cases were handled in a single trial, and he was sentenced to death in 1981.

After his imprisonment, Williams denounced gang violence and began writing children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups.

He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did, which led to a life of crime.

"The only thing that I was doing was destroying my own kind," Williams said in an interview from his cell at San Quentin State Prison.

Actor Jamie Foxx portrayed Williams in a 2004 made-for-television movie, "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story."

On Tuesday, Virginia's governor spared the life of Robin Lovitt a day before he was to become the 1,000th person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1977. (Full story)

Lovitt's sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole for stabbing a man to death with a pair of scissors during a 1988 pool hall robbery.

[bobbyearl93]

I say "Big Took" should not be executed.

[AKA2D '91]

Tavis interviews Tookie
Stanley "Tookie" Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state of California on December 15, 2005, unless its governor, Arnold "the Govenator" Schwarzenegger, commutes Mr. Williams' sentence or postpones his execution.

Does the Govenator have the moral courage to do either of the above? Probably not. But I'm not letting my pessimism stand in the way of what I believe to be a noble cause: sparing a man who has committed himself to redemption on a scale larger than what most of us can even imagine.

Not surprisingly, the mainstream media is not providing adequate coverage on this story, nor is much of what is covered about it particularly inspired.

Fortunately, we can count on Tavis Smiley -- per usual -- to shed some much needed light and perspective on this matter. And Tavis and his production staff have asked me to share with you this short audio clip as a prelude to a longer interview with Mr. Williams that he will be airing on his new nationally syndicated radio show this weekend.

For those of you who want to share this audio vignette, please do so by copying and pasting the specific URL that will take you directly to the interview which I have provided below:

http://www.afro-netizen.com/files/st...for_web_v3.mp3

[bobbyearl93]

I saw the movie "Redemption" with Jamie Fox. I searched the web and found a lot of information on how the crips (and other gangs) got started that wasn't in the movie. I also found a lot of information on Stanley Williams and his trial. Here are some photo....

This is what he looked like (29 yrs old) about the time he first got to prison:

Back in the day

This is kinda what he looks like now (52 yrs old):

Now

All I gotta say is "I ain't ever tryin to go that place!" They would be auctioning my azz off for about two or three carton of cigarettes.