Tookie - not Wookie... Crips - not Creeps... Terminated - not Governated
Tookie's life is in the hands of the Terminator indeed. Now a mere few days away from the scheduled execution of the former Crips gang leader, clemency is still hoped for from the "Governator" by Tookie's supporters - but how can we really expect such kindness coming from a TERMINATOR...?!?Tookie is one tough cookie, by the looks of it - this here is the first pic I see of him (one of two, but I chose this one for it is the most recent. The other one was of Tookie in the Seventies - reeks of "Blaxploitation" flair... and that is not appropriate right now.) - I am certain Tookie fears not Death.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams today reminds me of the hardened criminal portrayed by Clarence Williams III in the pseudo-classic "57 Pick-Up" - a rather lousy 1980s Cannon Films offering starring Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret (!), Kelly Preston (the future Mrs. John Travolta herself) and John Glover as a very diabolical back-stabber (his specialty - after all, he went on to play the devil in "Brimstone" and the conniving Lionel Luthor in "Smallville" - but those are different stories...)
In that film, Clarence dispensed death rather casually as mercilessly and quite effectively too... no death sentence for him as he would bite the dust way before undergoing arrest... in typical "Hollywood justice" fashion.
Speaking of Hollywood - it is simply beyond lugubrious and beyond... comical, even, that an actor who has portrayed assassins and killed countless victims on-screen (of course) will now mete out justice and punishment (as he also could display clemency - but likely won't - surprise me, Ah-nold, and do the unexpected...) upon a criminal who shot four people fatally years ago - even before the release of The Terminator... How many shootings has The Terminator inspired since its release... huh? Likely much more than just four, I'd wager...
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 7:54 AM
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Crips gang founder awaits word on clemency
CTV.ca News Staff
Days ahead of his scheduled execution, supporters of Stanley "Tookie" Williams are hoping he will be offered clemency.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hearing evidence today on why the founder of the notorious "Crips" gang, who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979, deserves to live.
Williams, 51, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison next Tuesday. His supporters say that he has turned his life around and has done good work in prison, including acting as a peacemaker among inmates and writing nine anti-gang books aimed at young people.
He's been nominated for a Nobel Peace Price six times and his "Protocol for Street Peace," has been used by rival gangs to broker gang truces.
Prosecutors, and some of the families of Williams' victims, say nothing he does now changes the fact that Williams fatally shot four people.
Williams was convicted of killing a convenience store worker and, days later, killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery.
But the Crips co-founder denies committing the murders.
In recent weeks, a number of high-profile supporters have rallied behind the cause of letting Tookie live, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, rapper Snoop Dogg, who himself was once a Crip, and Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, who played Williams in the 2004 film "Redemption".
Toronto hip-hop artist Wes Williams, known as "Maestro" also appeared in Redemption and told CTV's Canada AM that he supports Tookie's clemency hearing.
"He saves thousands and thousands of lives," he said. "He's worth more alive than dead."
In an unusual move, the California Department of Corrections has launched its own public campaign, questioning the sincerity of Williams' anti-gang conversion and alleging he remains involved with the Crips.
Last week, the California Supreme Court declined to reopen the case on whether Williams is innocent. The federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have also ruled against him.
Today, as both sides meet with Schwarzenegger, they will have 30 minutes each to make their case. Williams' attorney Jan Handzling says his job in today's meeting is not to re-try the case. Rather, he says his team needs to convince Schwarzenegger to spare Williams and commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"Our petition is not based on innocence," said Peter Fleming, one of Williams' attorneys. "Our petition is based upon rehabilitation of Stanley personally, but it is at least as importantly based on the value of Stanley Williams to the at-risk children in this country."
Schwarzenegger has not indicated when he will decide Williams' fate.
A California governor has not granted clemency since 1967, when Ronald Reagan spared the life of a brain-damaged killer.
Some analysts say Schwarzenegger, whose popularity as governor is slumping badly, risks further alienating his party base if he grants clemency.
"If he granted clemency, based on the evidence that has been presented, it would be a disaster," Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, told Reuters.
But Williams' supporters -- such as Barbara Becnel, who edited his anti-gang books -- say Schwarzenegger could win new voters by sparing Williams' life.
"I think the political results will be positive because he, Schwarzenegger, will be seen as a hero in urban communities throughout the state of California," she told Reuters.
Hmm... actually, Tookie's nickname makes one think of Wookie - maybe - but his allure makes me think of Michael Dorn... the actor who portrayed quite convincingly a rugged Klingon named Worf on Star Trek (both The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 as also a bunch of lame-ass feature films that, all together, don't measure up to a single Star Wars film... but, aye, that certainly is another entirely different story too...!
I wonder if Tookie has a voice like Worf - that would explain why kids might listen to him now, as he preaches AGAINST gang activities...
The old "do as I tell you, not as I did" routine...
Everyone's a proselytizer nowadays...
Tookie's proselytizing days seem to be at an end though...
Yes... we sometimes sort of... er... have to kill do we not? For self-preservation... in self-defense... in the defense of the ones we love...
And to set an example.
The system killing a convicted felon is not much different indeed from the gang leader murdering in order to reaffirm his leadership... and it can be by killing in cold blood anybody off the street or even a gang member who is questioning his "authority"...
The Turtles sang it so well (wasn't it the Turtles?) - "there's a time for everything - a time to kill... a time to die... a time feel... a time to cry"
A time to bill too - for you business owners out there.
A time to ply - for anyone in authority as well...
Blessings!
A poll I saw on this question... should Tookie be put to death?
After I voted and commented (the comment follows) it was 60% saying "no way" to that!
My comment:
"Death to the unrepentent creeps - sure.
But clemency for the repentent Crip... please, people!
He is advocating anti-gang rhetorics now - if he is STILL put to death for past transgressions now, it will instead fuel the fire of rebellion underneath the arses of young turks all over the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave - is that what you really want?
He may be insincere in his advocating - he may also be very sincere but still not be able to reach all of his "audience"...
However, putting him to death would be the worst thing to do in this case.
Blessings!
L.P."
After all, Ah-nold does not want a repeat of the L.A. Riots on his hands... does he now?
Even the Termi... I mean, the Governator would have a tough time handling THAT...!
Darn comments - they are not editable!
That was "a time to feel" back there...
And earlier I forgot to close a parenthesis...
So, I am a perfectionist...
Sue me, willya?
I am sure I won't get the death penalty for that...!
UPDATE TIME...
As of 2pm PST - 5pm EST...
Schwarzenegger denies clemency to Williams
CTV.ca News Staff
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has denied clemency to former Los Angeles gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams, facing execution early Tuesday.
"Clemency cases are always difficult and this one is no exception," Schwarzenegger said Monday in a written statement.
"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."
Convicted of four 1979 murders, Williams, 51, now has one last hope: A last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, which has previously refused to open the case.
Earlier Monday, Williams lost a last-minute bid to have the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to have his death sentence blocked.
Late Sunday, California's Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution for the former crime boss, co-founder of the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang.
Williams, who denies the murders, has earned Nobel Peace Prize nominations during his 24 years in jail for his anti-gang books and outspoken criticisms of gang violence.
Supporters
His supporters range from Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx and rap star Snoop Dogg (also a former Crips member) to the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Williams' supporters also made another pitch directly to the governor Sunday to spare his life, telling Schwarzenegger that they had a new witness who could help prove Williams' innocence.
"All we need now is time to investigate to make sure this story is real," NAACP California President Alice Huffman told the Associated Press Monday. "We're hoping and praying for clemency, but we're not going to leave any stone unturned."
Prosecutors and family members of the victims had urged Schwarzenegger to deny the request, in part because Williams continues to deny guilt in the slayings.
No clemency request has been granted in California since 1967, when Ronald Reagan spared a mentally ill killer.
Decision
Following the state Supreme Court ruling, lawyers for Williams immediately asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block his looming execution, where they were again unsuccessful.
Williams' supporters have held rallies in his support and argue that executing Williams would send the wrong message.
They say he has redeemed himself by speaking out against violence and writing children's books on the evils of gang life.
During his time in jail, the Crips street gang founder turned his life around to the point that a Swiss legislator, college professors and others repeatedly submitted his name for Nobel peace and literature prizes.
Williams was convicted of the slaying of a man during a robbery in February 1979 and the deaths of a couple and their daughter at a South Los Angeles motel the following month.
He denies committing the murders but has apologized for founding the Crips, a gang prosecutors blamed for thousands of murders in Los Angeles and beyond.
Court ruling
The state Supreme Court ruled 6-0 Sunday against staying his execution, saying Williams' last-minute appeal lacked merit and was untimely.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Brault implored the justices early Sunday to dismiss the petition, writing that it "is without merit and is manifestly designed for delay."
The justices earlier had denied a defence request to reopen the case over allegations that shoddy forensics linked a weapon used in three of the murders to a shotgun registered to Williams.
In the defence request for a stay of execution, attorney Verna Wefald argued that Los Angeles County prosecutors failed to disclose at trial that witness Alfred Coward was not a U.S. citizen and that he had a violent criminal history. Coward is now in prison in Canada for the murder of a man during a robbery.
"All of the witnesses who implicated Williams were criminals who were given significant incentives to testify against him and ongoing benefits for their testimony," Wefald wrote.
The California Supreme Court, a federal district court judge in Los Angeles, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court have all upheld his convictions.
Williams is scheduled for lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at San Quentin prison, north of San Francisco.
He would be the 12th inmate executed by the state since California reinstated the death penalty in 1977.
I am watching CNN right now and this story is on right now! I hope that the decition that was made, doesn't start another RIOT like you talked about Luce!
I really don't know what to think about it. I believe that he should pay for his crimes. I just hope it doesn't make things worse! He did do good, but doing good doesn't change what he did.
God Bleses You (\ô/)Luce!
((HUGE HUGS))
Countess
God Bless You!
God Bless Us All!
Tookie's tale only proves, again, that what I say about earthly flawed justice is true...
Only GOD can Judge EFFECTIVELY... most times! Because, in most cases, the evidence is not as clear-cut as the prosecution will present it... and we truly never know the TRUTH...
GOD KNOWS THE TRUTH - as in the expression "Only God Knows"... hmm?
Tookie maintained his INNOCENCE until THE END - even when pleading guilty could have spared his life!
I myself did not know that!
Now the explanation for that can be a few things too - he was tired of life behind bars and wanted out... maintaining his innocence when denied clemency sure was a way out... or... HE TRULY WAS INNOCENT?
ONLY GOD KNOWS!
And only God's Judgment will matter in the end.
Congratulations Governator - you have proven to be a true Terminator after all - in real life!
Now pull out the ammo - for "Ca-li-for-neea" is going to look like the future timeline of the "Reign of the Machines" in your T-movies there...
Following here is another update... from the Associated Press...
Gang Founder Claimed Innocence Until the End
Dec 13, 11:26 AM (ET)
By KIM CURTIS
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - Stanley Tookie Williams maintained his innocence right up until his death, even when an admission of guilt may have spared him execution.
Even after the courts and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected a flurry of Williams' last-ditch appeals before his execution early Tuesday, his supporters vowed to prove his innocence.
Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed Tuesday morning for killing four people in 1979.
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, his supporters shouted in unison: "The state of California just killed an innocent man," as they walked out of the chamber.
Lora Owens, stepmother of one of the four people Williams was convicted of killing witnessed the execution. "I believe it was a just punishment long overdue," she told ABC's "Good Morning America."
Williams' case became one of the nation's biggest death-row cause celebres in decades, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams' sentence should be commuted to life in prison because he had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence.
His execution also drew fierce criticism in Europe, where politicians in Schwarzenegger's native Austria called for his name to be removed from a sports stadium in his hometown.
"Schwarzenegger has a lot of muscles, but apparently not much heart," said Julien Dray, spokesman for the Socialist Party in France, where the death penalty was abolished in 1981.
Williams became the 12th person executed in California since lawmakers reinstated the death penalty in 1977.
In the days leading up to the execution, state and federal courts refused to reopen his case. Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied Williams' request for clemency, suggesting that his supposed change of heart was not genuine because he had not shown any real remorse for the killings committed by the Crips.
"Is Williams' redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise?" Schwarzenegger wrote. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."
Schwarzenegger said the evidence of Williams' guilt was "strong and compelling." Witnesses at Williams' trial said he boasted about the killings, saying: "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him."
Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned. Williams claimed he was innocent.
Williams was led into the death chamber at midnight, shackled and handcuffed. He declined to give a formal final statement.
He seemed frustrated by the length of time it took officials to insert the intravenous lines in his arms. He repeatedly looked up, shaking his head at supporters, reporters and other witnesses whom officials did not identify.
In all, it took nearly a half-hour to prepare Williams for execution. It took much less time to die; he appeared to stop breathing just moments after a prison official read the death warrant and said, "The execution shall now proceed."
Williams was described as "complacent, quiet and thoughtful," by Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton in the hours before the execution. He declined to have a last meal as he waited in the holding cell, drinking milk instead. Prison officials said he spent his last hours reading mail, watching television and visiting with his lawyers and friends.
After watching her longtime friend die, Barbara Becnel told the crowd of hundreds gathered outside prison gates that she would prove Williams' innocence and that Schwarzenegger was a "cold-blooded murderer."
She said Williams "was brave and strong and he was everything we believed him to be."
Singer Joan Baez, M A S H actor Mike Farrell and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were among the celebrities who protested the execution.
"Tonight is planned, efficient, calculated, antiseptic, cold-blooded murder and I think everyone who is here is here to try to enlist the morality and soul of this country," said Baez, who sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" on a small plywood stage set up just outside the gates.
A contingent of 40 people who had walked the approximately 25 miles from San Francisco held signs calling for an end to "state-sponsored murder." But others, including Debbie Lynch, 52, of Milpitas, said they wanted to honor the victims.
"If he admitted to it, the governor might have had a reason to spare his life," Lynch said.
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"; and Bianca Jagger. During Williams' 24 years on death row, a Swiss legislator, college professors and others nominated him for the Nobel Prizes in peace and literature.
Williams founded the Crips gang with a friend in 1971 and managed stay out of trouble for years despite his claims that he was a drug-fueled thug who robbed, beat and shot at people.
Authorities say the gang is responsible for hundreds of deaths, many of them in battles with the rival Bloods for turf and control of the drug trade.
Whatever luck Williams found on the streets avoiding the law ended in 1979 after four people were killed in a pair of armed robberies that were connected to him and his pump-action shotgun.
Williams never wavered from his claim of innocence and said he refused to confess to crimes he did not commit, even if doing so would save his life. He said he redeemed himself while in prison and apologized for starting the Crips.
"There is no part of me that existed then that exists now," Williams said recently during several hours of interviews with The Associated Press. He said that while he wanted to live and continue his work with children, he was prepared to die.
"I haven't had a lot of joy in my life. But in here," he says, pointing to his heart, "I'm happy. I am peaceful in here. I am joyful in here."
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