Tookie

[HezSweet NS Guest]

Prosecutors Urge Governor To Deny Clemency For Williams

POSTED: 3:09 pm PST November 17, 2005
UPDATED: 4:34 pm PST November 17, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors Thursday urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deny clemency to convicted killer and Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams because he's never accepted responsibility for four murders.

In a 50-page response to Williams' petition for executive clemency, Los Angeles County prosecutors wrote that "this cold-blooded killer, Stanley Williams, now seeks mercy, the very mercy he so callously denied" the four murder victims.

Images: Execution Date Set

"Stanley Williams does not deserve this mercy. In fact, despite the overwhelming nature of the evidence against him, and despite the non-existence of any credible defense, Stanley Williams has steadfastly refused to take any responsibility for the brutal, destructive and murderous acts he committed," Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney John Monaghan and Deputy District Attorney David Walgren wrote.

Williams was convicted and sentenced to death in 1981 for the February 1979 shooting death of 7-Eleven clerk Albert Owens in Whittier, along with the shotgun killings of Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shai Yang and Yee-Chen Lin at their South Vermont Avenue motel in Los Angeles less than two weeks later.

Williams has denied committing the crimes and renounced his gang past, penning children's books and being nominated for a Noble Peace Prize since being sent to San Quentin's death row.

He is set to be executed Dec. 13 unless the governor grants his petition for clemency -- something no condemned murderer in California has been granted since 1967.

Williams' attorneys said last month after the execution date was set that they wanted his sentence to be reduced from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Williams' supporters contend that he has reached out to the country's youth and can do more for society alive than dead.

"In the petition filed in support of Williams' request for clemency, the claim is made that Stanley Williams is today a different man. Even if that were the case, the jury's determination that Williams suffer the penalty of death for his crimes was appropriate and should be carried out," the prosecutors wrote in their reply.

The prosecutors rejected Williams' claim that he cannot accept responsibility for these murders because he is innocent, adding that "a thorough review of the evidence simply does not support Williams' claim of innocence."

Additionally, he has never accepted responsibility for his plot to escape from county jail while awaiting trial and has "refused, despite his hollow claims of atonement, to be debriefed by the prison authorities," Monaghan and Walgren wrote.

Prison officials at San Quentin also reportedly asked that Williams not be granted clemency, claiming he still ran the Crips from death row.

Williams' lawyers are expected to reply to the District Attorney's Office's response within four days and make a final argument.

[HezSweet NS Guest]

Should he receive clemency? I dunno. I grew up in South Central LA. I know what it's like to live under gang threat. Always watching. People I knew and went to church with got caught up gang madness and lost their lives. I've seen the hurt and devestation it caused these families.

I remember going to Taco Bell with hubby one night after church and we held our breath while a couple of gang members drove through the parking lot looking for somebody. I remember seeing a very large gun (maybe a shotgun) in this guys lap. I remember the car being so dark inside but I did see the gun. We were so scared.

This man is responsbile for some serious evils. I don't doubt if it had not been him, the devil would have used someone else.

Some many people have died because of what this man "birthed".

So many young, innocent lives, innocent bystanders caught up gang turf wars.

The real human side of me says, there is no way in hades he should receive clemency. That human side says let justice prevail. He needs to pay regardless of all the jailhouse rehabilitation he's done. The man still will not give police info on the inner workings of the gang life because he doesn't want to be a snitch.

That's the same thinking in our communities today that police are trying to fight. This don't talk to the police about anything. It's preached in rap music and practiced by all those who worship at gangsta rap's altar.

There's no talk about him receiving salvation, just rehabiliated and trying to make peace with his past.

We all know that he can be forgiven, spiritually set free and make heaven.

I guess my question is, should he receive clemency for his many crimes because he has been "rehabilitated"? Not saved...rehabilitated.

[lanl ns]

Should "Tookie" be executed: I don't know!

But I do know that Tookie, still has influence over the "gang lifestyle" today and is noted for yet running the Crips from Death Row....

It has been reported that Tookie has a major "jailhouse" bank account, you know "money on the books".

I am just tired of Black folks glamorizing the Thug Life, maybe these kids need a WAKE UP call!!!!

[jasmine nsi]

He writes books, of course in a sense, his jail house bank account would be "large". Im sure people from all through out california, are supporting the good deeds he is currently doing. Does this negate the fact that he birth the crips, and killed four people. nope

the 4 people he killed, will never ever regain physical life again, their family and friends will forever be changed by this malicious act.

In him birthing the crips..I believe the question is, did he really think or even expect for the crips and bloods to be as out of control as they are today?

Back then really didn't resort to guns or weapons, they fought. Now look at them?

Should he be executed..I dont know. I personally believe that life without the possibility of parole is always just sentence. Even when the individual has taken another's life.

[stillfocused]

Has there been any updates or news of whether or not the governor will grant Tookie clemency ?

[Hez Sweet Guest]

The Supreme Court refused to hear his case and CA governor has refused to grant clemency to last two inmates who requested. So it looks like his execution date still stands for Dec. 13.

I pray for the redemption of his soul; not just rehabilitation.

[lanl ns]

jasmine said:

He writes books, of course in a sense, his jail house bank account would be "large". Im sure people from all through out california, are supporting the good deeds he is currently doing.

Everyone for the record Tookie Williams books have only sold 332 copies:

Read an excerpt from an article below:

The portrayal of Williams as some pied piper of peace for the gang community also holds very little water. A quick review of Book Scan shows the Tookie series of books have hardly been blockbusters. His top seller, "Gangs and Violence" has sold 330 books. Another book "Gangs and Wanting to Belong" sold exactly two copies.

[HezSweet Guest]

The NAACP is now in on the fight to save Tookie's life.

www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051207-11005800-bc-us-execute-tookie.xml

[auneeqsol]

Oh my, I dont know what to say about this...
Well of course I wouldnt want the brother to die, but I know he took the lives of four other ppl which is messed up and very tragic and heartbreaking for their families, but I do see that if he can still live and be a witness to others to not follow the same lifestyle , thats in a sense saving a few lives at least.

But I guess him dying is restitution for the families, to say "if my family member is dead then he should be too." I mean would that really give them satisfaction? I mean true peace and comforts in their hearts? I dont think so, but im not them so i dont know their hearts that might give them some kind of peace and happiness. Him being dead isnt going to bring back their family members, so they will still have a void, and can possible still hate him (if they do) beyond the grave, because he took them away. They are never coming back.

I hope he doesnt get executed but if he does it's just reaping time for him, because of what he sowed. Im not saying that in a harsh way, but Jesus said if you live by the sword you'll die by the sword, meaning in his situation if you lived your life killing and harming others it might in turn come right back around and the same thing will happen to you , you losing your life that is.

But according to these records about how his books sold, it seems like he didnt make a great impact on others as expected, so I guess they dont see it a need to keep him around like he's doing some important work in society...i dunno im not sure. Well if he didnt do good on his books then why was he up to win a Noble Peace Prize? Hmm i dunno, whatever happens I hope the brother receives Christ so that he may have eternal life.

[lanl ns]

auneeqsol said:

Well if he didnt do good on his books then why was he up to win a Noble Peace Prize?

Taken from the article:Clemency Efforts For 'Tookie' Williams Intensifying

By Pablo Pereira (ABC News)

The Williams case highlights how easy the Nobel Prize nomination process is.

Generally, professors from public office holder can write a letter.

About 150 people worldwide are nominated annually and the list is suppose to be secret for 50 years.

"Until the nominations are confirmed and the winners are announced, it really doesn't mean very much to be nominated. Many people are nominated," said Prof Tom Holloway a U.C. Davis history professor.

[auneeqsol]

Oh okay I see now....thanks for the info lanl....

[stillfocused1]

There is also movie out called Redemption which is about Stanley "Tookie" Williams life. I had never heard about him until my son brought me the DVD..across country. It is a very good movie..except the violent parts that it has. And it's possible that he is receiving residuals from that I want to say my son brought the dvd from Blockbusters. Jamie Foxx played Tookie and that brother did some good acting in that movie. And find it quite ironic that the set execution date happened to fall on Foxx's birthday..Dec 13.

[HezSweet Guest]

Crips Founder Williams Denied Clemency
AP - 6 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang who awaited execution early Tuesday in a case that 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.
_________________________________________

Tookie will die tomorrow for the deaths of four people. I don't know if his impending death does much to be honest. It doesn't bring back any of the dead, it doesn't halt gang violence in our country. I guess I'm kinda what's the point? What's done is done. I realize that this is his day of reckoning. The families may get a sense of closure -- that justice is finally being served. In no way do I mean to belittle their loss or their grief. I'm sure they were angry at such needless tragedy.

I guess his impending death seems like such a small thing (of course not to his family and supporters) in the larger sense of all the continued gang violence in our neighborhoods and cities.

I have to remember though, he's not being put to death for starting the gang, but for the death of four innocent people.

There were no winners in this.

[lanl ns]

This is quite sad; IMHO if Tookie did not have the Crips tied to him there maybe a chance that he could have lived.

Just a question (not my belief)

If Tookie would not have been caught and in jail all this time and still running the crips; How long do you think he would have lasted living the lifestyle he was living?

Do most gang members live past 30?

[HezSweet Guest]

Do gang members live past 30?

Good question. I don't know what the stats say.