Clemency Denied for Williams

[Gyrl7]

Arnold Schwarzenegger might want to make sure he has SWAT at his door, because the CRIPs might come after him.

[SummerChild]

I'm shocked. I thought that Arnold was going to hide behind the doors of his house and not say anything.
SC

Originally posted by Steeltrap
This isn't surprising. Schwarzenegger is an unpopular governor who is seeking reelection and there's no way that he erodes his already shaky base by keeping STW from frying:

Williams Denied Clemency

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago



Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams, the former gang leader whose case stirred debate over capital punishment and the possibility of redemption on death row.

Williams, 51, is set to die by injection at San Quentin State Prison after midnight for murdering four people in two 1979 holdups.

Hollywood stars and death penalty opponents mounted a campaign to save his life, making him one of the nation's biggest death-row cause celebres in decades. His supporters argued that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had made amends during more than two decades in prison by writing a memoir and children's books about the dangers of gangs.

Prosecutors and victims' advocates contended Williams was undeserving of clemency from the governor because he did not own up to his crimes and refused to inform on fellow gang members. They also argued that the Crips gang that Williams co-founded in Los Angeles in 1971 is responsible for hundreds of deaths, many of them in battles with the rival Bloods for turf and control of the drug trade.

Williams stands to become the 12th California condemned inmate executed since lawmakers reinstated the death penalty in 1977 after a brief hiatus.

Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down a clerk in a convenience store holdup and a mother, father and daughter in a motel robbery weeks later. Williams claimed he was innocent.

The last time a California governor granted clemency was in 1967, when Ronald Reagan spared a mentally infirm killer.

Less than 12 hours before the execution was set to take place, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals said it would not intervene because, among other things, there was no "clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence."

In his last-ditch appeal, Williams claimed that he should have been allowed to argue at his trial that someone else killed one of the four victims, and that shoddy forensics connected him to the other killings.

Williams was convicted of killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at a Los Angeles motel the family owned, and Albert Owens, 26, a 7-Eleven clerk gunned down in Whittier.

Among the celebrities who took up Williams' cause were Jamie Foxx, who played the gang leader in a cable movie about Williams; rapper Snoop Dogg, himself a former Crip; Sister Helen Prejean, the nun depicted in "Dead Man Walking"; Bianca Jagger; and former "M A S H" star Mike Farrell. During Williams' 24 years on death row, a Swiss legislator, college professors and others nominated him for the Nobel Prizes in peace and literature.

"If Stanley Williams does not merit clemency," defense attorney Peter Fleming Jr. asked, "what meaning does clemency retain in this state?"

The impending execution resulted in feverish preparations over the weekend by those on both sides of the debate, with the California Highway Patrol planning to tighten security outside the prison, where hundreds of protesters were expected.

A group of about three dozen death penalty protesters were joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson as they marched across the Golden Gate Bridge after dawn Monday en route to the gates of San Quentin, where they were expected to rally with hundreds of people.

At least publicly, the person apparently least occupied with his fate seemed to be Williams himself.

"Me fearing what I'm facing, what possible good is it going to do for me? How is that going to benefit me?" Williams said in a recent interview. "If it's my time to be executed, what's all the ranting and raving going to do?"

[LionOfJudah]

For those of you who have read my postings before you know I my thoughts on the Gov. of California's decision would sound something like this..."isn't this typical...you spineless, ignorant, credentialess coward" not just like that but something really really close....*smile*
this brings up anther question for me....this man has been on death row for years and we are just getting to the point where he is being put to death.... I find it necessary to include that I am an opponent of the death penalty in all cases but I do have to bring up that I think allowing someone to sit for year after year thinking about the day he/she is to be put to death is somewhat cruel and unusual to me. Even in the days of the guillotine (an apparatus we as a society have deemed inhumane) the process was swift and "purposeful". Now even if I thought death was a plausible and "correct" punishment I don't think forcing to await their death for years is humane. Again just a thought...

Main Entry: cru·el and un·usu·al punishment
Function: noun
: punishment that is offensive to the contemporary morality or jurisprudence (as by being degrading, inflicting unnecessary and intentional pain, or being disproportionate to the offense) <nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted —U.S. Constitution amendment VIII> —see also Gregg v. Georgia in the IMPORTANT CASES section —compare CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, DEATH PENALTY
NOTE: A cruel and unusual punishment is essentially one that the courts consider to violate the Eighth Amendment based on a variety of criteria. The interpretation of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment has changed over time and has varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most forms of corporal punishment formerly used at common law have been found to be cruel and unusual punishments.

Loj

[CrimsonTide4]

I agree with you, LoJ. I am not clearly decided on for or against the death penalty but I am STRONGLY AGAINST them sitting on death row for years and years and years. It is very cruel and inhumane.

[LionOfJudah]

Originally posted by LionOfJudah
For those of you who have read my postings before you know I my thoughts on the Gov. of California's decision would sound something like this..."isn't this typical...you spineless, ignorant, credentialess coward" not just like that but something really really close....*smile*
this brings up another question for me....this man has been on death row for years and we are just getting to the point where he is being put to death.... I find it necessary to include that I am an opponent of the death penalty in all cases but I do have to bring up that I think allowing someone to sit for year after year thinking about the day he/she is to be put to death is somewhat cruel and unusual to me. Even in the days of the guillotine (an apparatus we as a society have deemed inhumane) the process was swift and "purposeful". Now even if I thought death was a plausible and "correct" punishment I don't think forcing to await their death for years is humane. Again just a thought...

Main Entry: cru·el and un·usu·al punishment
Function: noun
: punishment that is offensive to the contemporary morality or jurisprudence (as by being degrading, inflicting unnecessary and intentional pain, or being disproportionate to the offense) <nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted —U.S. Constitution amendment VIII> —see also Gregg v. Georgia in the IMPORTANT CASES section —compare CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, DEATH PENALTY
NOTE: A cruel and unusual punishment is essentially one that the courts consider to violate the Eighth Amendment based on a variety of criteria. The interpretation of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment has changed over time and has varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most forms of corporal punishment formerly used at common law have been found to be cruel and unusual punishments.

Loj

[SummerChild]

These concerns are balanced against the desire to provide someone with every possible appeal before any execution. I think that someone can waive all appeals to speed up the process if the person wants.
SC

Originally posted by LionOfJudah
For those of you who have read my postings before you know I my thoughts on the Gov. of California's decision would sound something like this..."isn't this typical...you spineless, ignorant, credentialess coward" not just like that but something really really close....*smile*
this brings up anther question for me....this man has been on death row for years and we are just getting to the point where he is being put to death.... I find it necessary to include that I am an opponent of the death penalty in all cases but I do have to bring up that I think allowing someone to sit for year after year thinking about the day he/she is to be put to death is somewhat cruel and unusual to me. Even in the days of the guillotine (an apparatus we as a society have deemed inhumane) the process was swift and "purposeful". Now even if I thought death was a plausible and "correct" punishment I don't think forcing to await their death for years is humane. Again just a thought...

Main Entry: cru·el and un·usu·al punishment
Function: noun
: punishment that is offensive to the contemporary morality or jurisprudence (as by being degrading, inflicting unnecessary and intentional pain, or being disproportionate to the offense) <nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted —U.S. Constitution amendment VIII> —see also Gregg v. Georgia in the IMPORTANT CASES section —compare CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, DEATH PENALTY
NOTE: A cruel and unusual punishment is essentially one that the courts consider to violate the Eighth Amendment based on a variety of criteria. The interpretation of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment has changed over time and has varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most forms of corporal punishment formerly used at common law have been found to be cruel and unusual punishments.

Loj

[aopirose]

I don’t know the details of this case. However, he was found guilty and therefore, his life is forfeit. It does seem inhumane that he has been on death row all this time but that is the way the justice system works. I am sure that it was due to appeals and so forth. If something has not been found to exonerate him in all this time then it never will materialize.

[LionOfJudah]

"every possible appeal before any execution" that is an interesting point but in a case that has the fate of a persons life in the balance there are certainly "speedier" processes that could be used. Speedy process is also a "right" given to us via the Constitution. But again we are in a country where all right are supposedly innate. Those rights were then taken from us and given back to us as the courts, congress, and president and his advisors deem necessary...but that is a whole different discussion. But again very good point SummerChild.

LoJ

[UrbanizdSkillz]

You know, I truly believe that he is on DR as a result of founding the crips in contrast to the four murders he was accused of. Taking that same token, why wasn't the founder of the Klu Klux Klan put on death row? Did he not create a group of people with a mindset for destruction?

[f1r9e8d1a81]

Continuing with Tookie Williams' execution will only start more chaos with the gangs nationwide. The Terminator better use some of his powers for protection. He, ( Terminator) knew he wasn't going to grant him clemency in the first place.

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by f1r9e8d1a81
he knew he wasn't going to grant him clemency in the first place.

Exactly!

[DELTABRAT]

Schwarzenewhatever said this:

"There is little mention of atonement in his writings and his plea for clemency of the countless murders committed by the Crips following the lifestyle Williams once espoused. The senseless killing that has ruined many families, particularly in African-American communities, in the name of the Crips and gang warfare is a tragedy of our modern culture."


He was executed for starting the Crips gang, not for killing four people. Period!

Schwarzenegger notes that Williams dedicated his 1998 book to a group that includes Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and Mumia Abu-Jamal. In particular, Schwarzenegger said the inclusion of a dedication to George Jackson, who was charged with the murder of a California prison guard, "defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed."

Huh?

John Monaghan, emphasized to reporters that Williams was convicted of killing four people in an "abhorrent" manner and has not provided information to police about the Crips, the notorious gang he co-founded.

"They" know what it's about. The only photo they have of one of the people killed and the only person they quote as being "happy" about the executions is the Owens guy. A white man in uniform of some sort. Where are the Asian folks' family?

Oh, well. On another note. I'ts nice and calm and quiet on the West side of Los Angeles. I'm about to go to my mom's in Compton. We'll see how that goes...

[DSTinguished1]

Originally posted by UrbanizdSkillz
You know, I truly believe that he is on DR as a result of founding the crips in contrast to the four murders he was accused of. Taking that same token, why wasn't the founder of the Klu Klux Klan put on death row? Did he not create a group of people with a mindset for destruction?

Great point!

[SummerChild]

OK, LOJ so say if you are wrongly accused of killing someone, i want to see you run to the judge and waive all of your appeals for a speedy execution.

SC

Originally posted by LionOfJudah
"every possible appeal before any execution" that is an interesting point but in a case that has the fate of a persons life in the balance there are certainly "speedier" processes that could be used. Speedy process is also a "right" given to us via the Constitution. But again we are in a country where all right are supposedly innate. Those rights were then taken from us and given back to us as the courts, congress, and president and his advisors deem necessary...but that is a whole different discussion. But again very good point SummerChild.

LoJ

[LionOfJudah]

SC, Never meant to communicate that I would waive anything but I would want my appeals to be speedy and productive...I don't want to sit arolund and wait to die...
LoJ