|
Post by Maggie on Oct 13, 2005 7:41:02 GMT -5
The U.S. Supreme Court, on October 11, 2005, ruled against Tookie on his final appeal and set his execution date for December 13. Thus they disregarded 9 of the 24 Ninth Circuit Court judges' assertion that the District Attorney at Tookie's trial employed "reprehensible and unconstitutional" racist tactics, using animal-in-a-jungle metaphors to refer to Tookie and to the South Central environment in which he lived. This landmark ruling means that minorities can now legally be rejected from juries based on race. This is now the law of the land. www.savetookie.org/ This man was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize while on DR.... Please visit www.savetookie.org/ and sign the petition for Tookie.
|
|
|
Post by dio on Oct 13, 2005 14:59:37 GMT -5
I wouldn't agree that the USSC has made rascism legal.Tru the statements were kinda off color...LOL sorry for the pun,but from what I have read of the case the Court does seem correct in ruling them a NON FCTOR in the pursuit of Justice...IMO only dio
|
|
|
Post by CCADP on Oct 25, 2005 4:47:32 GMT -5
Execution Closer for 'a Model of Humanity'
By Henry Weinstein Times Staff Writer
October 25, 2005
Lawyers and religious figures on Monday launched what is expected to be a vigorous battle to save the life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the reputed co-founder of the Crips street gang, after a judge set Dec. 13 as his execution date.
Because he has lost all his appeals, it appears that only a grant of clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could save Williams, 51, convicted 24 years ago of four Los Angeles murders — the shootings of Albert Owens, who was killed in the robbery of a 7-Eleven store on Feb. 27, 1979, and of motel owners Yen-I Yang and Thsai-Shaic Yang and their daughter, Yee Chen Lin, at the Brookhaven Motel on South Vermont Avenue 12 days later.
No California governor since Ronald Reagan has granted clemency in a death penalty case.
But a coalition of religious leaders and opponents of the death penalty argue that Williams' case is exceptional. Over the last decade, he has published several children's books urging disadvantaged youths to avoid gangs and violence. He has been nominated for a Nobel Prize and last year was the subject of a favorable television movie "Redemption: The Stan 'Tookie' Williams Story."
Williams has "spent his life in jail … turning people away from crime, turning them away from deeds that tear at the fabric of society," said Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills.
"This man has been rehabilitated. We are asking the governor to commute his sentence…. He is a model of humanity, especially for the black man."
But Lora Owens, the stepmother of Albert Owens, said the execution should go forward. She said Williams has not accepted responsibility for his murders and has done nothing to redeem himself.
"To be redeemed means to accept responsibility or assume responsibility and not use it as a means of getting out of just punishment," Owens said.
"He chose to be judge, jury and executioner in a matter of seconds, and yet it has taken years for him to come to justice," she said.
Asked whether she was convinced that Williams murdered her stepson, Owens said: "From the facts given to me, I have no doubts." Then she added, "I was not the one who convicted him; I am not the one who sentenced him; I am trying to keep the memory of Albert alive because he is the one who was done wrong."
Owens was working at the 7-Eleven store, which Williams and three others robbed of $120, according to court records.
Williams has denied committing the four killings. On Monday, Verna Wefald, his current appellate attorney, said, "The evidence against him is very weak," adding that it was based on unreliable testimony from "informants and longtime con men." She said the defense is "continuing to explore" options.
Alfred Coward, an immunized government witness, testified at trial that he, Williams, and two other men smoked cigarettes laced with PCP before the robbery. Coward testified that Williams shot out the store's television monitor before shooting Owens in the head.
Four witnesses provided testimony identifying Williams as the perpetrator of the Yang killings, according to court records.
On Monday, Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders rejected a request by defense attorneys to delay the execution date to Dec. 22 to give them more time to prepare their clemency papers, which are due Nov. 8.
"This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point," Pounders said. "That is a long delay in itself, and I would hate to add to that delay."
Neither state nor local officials would comment on the looming clemency battle, but they are expected to argue that Williams has never formally accepted responsibility for his crimes.
In California and the 36 other states that have the death penalty, an individual facing execution has a right to apply to the governor for clemency, but there are virtually no rules on how to respond. In California and most other states, the governor has complete discretion.
Since becoming governor, Schwarzenegger has rejected two clemency requests from death row inmates — Donald Beardslee, who was executed early this year, and Kevin Cooper, who won a last-minute reprieve from a federal appeals court last year. Cooper's appeals are pending.
Earlier this month, Andrea Hoch, the governor's legal affairs secretary, sent a letter informing attorneys involved in the case that materials submitted to the governor's office regarding clemency would be sent to the Board of Parole Hearings "as a matter of course." Hoch also said the governor may call for a hearing on the clemency request.
In the last detailed ruling on the case, in September 2002, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Williams' death sentence but suggested, in a rare move, that then-Gov. Gray Davis consider commuting the sentence because of Williams' "laudable" anti-gang efforts while in prison. Davis did not commute the sentence.
In February of this year, over objections from nine of its 24 active judges, the 9th Circuit refused to grant Williams another hearing based on his claim that he was a victim of racially biased jury selection. The prosecutor rejected all three blacks who might have served on the jury.
Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, writing for the dissenting judges, said, "A prosecutor publicly castigated by the Supreme Court of California for his pattern of racially motivated peremptory jury challenges removed all blacks from Williams' jury. In declining to [rehear] this case, our court bestows an implicit imprimatur upon the trial court's denial of a constitutionally mandated jury selection process."
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, said last February that the trial prosecutor had "good reasons not related to race" for dismissing the black jurors. One was excused because of a work hardship, another because she said she would require prosecutors to meet a higher standard of proof than normal and the third out of concern that he would be guided by his background as a psychologist rather than the evidence, Barankin said.
In early October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Williams' case.
Because that denial appeared to be the last realistic chance for Williams to have his sentence reversed in court, his lawyers and supporters are concentrating on clemency arguments.
"He went through a personal metamorphosis 15 years ago and since then has reached out to young people," said Peter Fleming, the New York lawyer who is leading Williams' clemency team. "He has made extraordinary efforts to reach out to young people to dissuade them from engaging in the kind of [gang] activity he did," Fleming said in an interview.
In addition to Jacobs, the clergymen supporting Williams' bid for life include the Rev. James Lawson, a longtime civil rights leader; Catholic priest Christopher Ponnet; and Rabbi Leonard Beerman, the founding rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in West Los Angeles.
"When the first case of murder in all of human history was confronted by God, God decided not to execute the murderer by stoning or hanging or by laying him on a gurney," Beerman said. "God ordained that [Cain] not be executed, but that a mark be placed on his head and no one else was to kill him. If this decision was good enough for God, is it not good enough for the governor of California?"
*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2005, The Los Angeles Times
|
|
|
Post by CCADP on Oct 25, 2005 4:49:36 GMT -5
Reformed or not, Crips founder gets date with death A Superior Court judge set Dec. 13 as the day of Stanley "Tookie" Williams' execution. Williams, 51, transformed himself into an author of children's books that warn against gangs. By Deepa Bharath Daily Breeze A December execution date has been set for the founder of the notorious Crips street gang, who dramatically transformed himself into a children's book author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee while on death row. A judge signed a death warrant Monday for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who was convicted of murdering four people, including three in a Gardena-area motel more than 25 years ago. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders set a Dec. 13 execution date and also rejected Williams' request for a nine-day delay. Williams' attorneys now have until Nov. 8 to ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency. Williams, 51, was sentenced to death in 1981. In 1979, the muscular, 230-pound Williams, nicknamed "Big Took" and "Tookie," forced his way through four door locks at the Brookhaven Motel on the Gardena-Harbor Gateway border and killed Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shen and Ye-Chew Lin in a holdup that netted $100. Two weeks earlier, he had executed Albert Owens, a 7-Eleven store clerk, after ordering him to his knees. Williams got $70 from that heist. The notorious gang member, who once appeared on the "Gong Show" with two women balancing on his biceps, was convicted of robbery, kidnapping and murder in Torrance Superior Court in 1981. Jonathan Harris, a New York attorney representing Williams in the clemency proceedings, did not return phone calls on Monday. And Robert Martin, the former Torrance deputy district attorney who prosecuted Williams, could not be reached for comment. Williams maintains his innocence and since his incarceration in San Quentin has written a series of children's books titled Tookie Speaks Out in which he details his life in prison and how he regrets his bad choices as a young man on the streets of South-Central Los Angeles. Williams and a high school friend, Raymond Washington, started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971. His books received a tremendous response not only from children across the nation, but are being used by teachers and nonprofit groups as educational tools. Williams has been nominated five times for a Nobel Peace Prize and four times for a Nobel Prize in literature. Last year, Jamie Foxx played Williams in "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story," a television movie that prompted thousands of e-mail messages to Williams from young gang members who said his life story helped them turn their lives around. In August, Williams received a President's Call to Service Award for his good deeds on death row, complete with a letter from President Bush praising him for demonstrating "the outstanding character of America." A Web site dedicated to Williams and his cause, www.tookie.com, put together by the Institute for the Prevention of Youth Violence in Richmond, has an online petition for signatures to be submitted to the governor seeking clemency for Williams. The Web site had received 23,667 signatures as of 5 p.m. Monday. However, Lora Owens, Albert Owens' stepmother, said Williams does not deserve clemency. "I didn't convict the man and I didn't put a death sentence on him, but I want justice for Albert to be done. I will not let it go," she said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press. But dozens of death penalty opponents held a quiet demonstration outside the courtroom Monday calling for mercy. They held a banner praising Williams' work to prevent gang violence that read, "Keeping him alive saves lives!" Among the demonstrators was actor Mike Farrell, who called the court proceedings "disgusting." "It's a simple, sterile, ministerial procedure in which a human life is scheduled to be expunged without consideration for his value, his change, his transformation," Farrell said.
|
|
|
Post by CCADP on Oct 25, 2005 4:52:26 GMT -5
THE HUTCHINSON REPORT: Schwarzenegger Can Redeem Tookie ... But Will He? By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
E-mail to a friend | Printer friendly (October 25, 2005) By now many know the story of Stanley "Tookie" Williams courtesy of the smash performance by Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx who played Williams in the made-for-TV film Redemption. The co-founder of the Crips street gang's story reads like a gory tale of gang violence, mayhem, and destruction, but it also reads like a saintly tale of spiritual renewal, public service, and human achievement. Both parts of his tale could come crashing to a tragic end if, or more likely when, his execution date is formally set. That could come at a hearing before the end of October in Los Angeles.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has made it clear that he'll push hard for an execution date. There's nothing legally to stop him. In a last gasp effort, October 11, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reopen William's case. That pretty much slammed the legal door shut on one of America's most famous death row inmates. Williams, convicted of four murders, has languished on death row for nearly a quarter of century. He contends that he got a bad shake. A mostly white jury convicted him, got a subpar legal defense, and his case was based largely on testimony from jailhouse informants.
A national campaign has been launched to prod Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant Tookie clemency. California is one of fourteen states where governors have sole authority to commute a condemned killer's sentence. But that would buck precedent. In the nearly four decades since Ronald Reagan granted clemency to a brain damaged death row inmate, no California governor has waved a death sentence. And Reagan took action only because the latest scientific test to determine brain damage was not available at the time of the condemned killer's trial.
Tookie, on the other hand, seems a prime candidate for clemency. His prizewinning children's books, Nobel Peace nominations, and his anti-violence messages have been the stuff of public acclaim. His radical life affirming volte face has made him a near universal symbol of hope that even the most hardened, bitter, and incorrigible street thug can find salvation.
But that's not enough. And Schwarzenegger has said as much. He flatly refused to grant clemency to two condemned murderers. Both times, he publicly declared that model behavior behind bars doesn't absolve prisoners of culpability for their crimes.
When it comes to condemned killers, no matter what the circumstances of the crime, how young they were when they committed murder, how much praise they garnered from judges and prison officials, how many college degrees they got in prison, or that they had made Mother Teresa like beatific conversions during their long stint in prison, they still must pay the supreme price.
Schwarzenegger is not unique among governors when it comes to quashing clemency appeals. During the past decade, only five death row inmates have had their sentences commuted in any single year. Former Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of virtually all condemned killers before departing office in 2003. That was the rare exceptions to the unwritten rule that governors don't grant clemency. They're scared stiff of being tagged as soft on crime, and being insensitive to victims. In the forty years prior to Ryan's action, only one death row inmate in Illinois got executive clemency. Since Ryan's headline grabbing and humane action, only seven other persons have gotten their death sentences commuted nationally.
Even if Schwarzenegger were inclined to grant Williams clemency, he's trapped by the relentless politics of crime and punishment, and his nosedive in popularity. His ratings wallow at the bottom of the tank with President Bush's. A majority of California voters blast him for ramming a costly, wasteful, and unnecessary special election onto the November 8 California ballot. William's personal turnabout is exemplary and sparing his life is the morally the right thing to do. Clemency is not the same as freedom. He will still likely spend the rest of his days in prison. But 2006 is an election year in California, and the last thing that Republican Schwarzenegger can afford to be plastered with is the soft on crime label for sparing the life of a black, ex-gang leader, and convicted multiple murderer.
Playing hardball with the lives of prisoners that have turned their lives around may seem like a sure ticket for a politician to snatch votes, it's still bad public policy. With the handful of convicted killers who have shown by their deeds that they have redeemed themselves, it makes no sense for a governor to hold them hostages to past political fears. Williams is not Willie Horton. Schwarzenegger almost surely knows that.
Yet, as long as he thinks that he is, prisoners that have shown by their remorse and deeds that they can be model and productive citizens will be denied the second chance they've worked hard for. Tookie will likely be one of them.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a political analyst and social issues commentator, and the author of The Crisis in Black and Black (Middle Passage Press). He hosts the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable at Lucy Florence Coffeehouse 3351 W. 43rd St. Saturdays from 10-11AM in Leimert Park.
|
|
|
Post by judywaits4u on Oct 27, 2005 9:18:01 GMT -5
Judge signs death warrant for Crips gang co-founder
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 7:10 a.m. EDT (11:10 GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge signed a death warrant Monday for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a co-founder of the notorious Crips gang who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his children's books.
Williams is scheduled to die December 13 at San Quentin prison. The judge rejected requests by his attorneys to delay the execution until December 22 to give them more time to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The December 13 date means attorneys have only until November 8 to submit a clemency request. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Williams' case earlier this month.
"This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point," Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders said. "That is a long delay in itself, and I would hate to add to that delay."
Williams, 51, and a high school friend started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971.
Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a convenience store worker, in 1979. He also was convicted of killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year.
Williams maintains he is innocent, and supporters cite his renunciation of his past and his efforts to curtail gang violence, including a series of children's books he co-wrote in prison.
Supporters have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel in literature, and a cable TV movie of his life last year starred Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx.
Dozens of death penalty opponents demonstrated outside the courtroom. Among them was actor Mike Farrell, who said the proceedings failed to consider "his value, his change, his transformation."
Lora Owens, Albert Owens' stepmother, said Williams does not deserve clemency.
"I didn't convict the man and I didn't put a death sentence on him, but I want justice for Albert to be done," she said in a recent telephone interview. "I will not let it go."
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
Mo-DAWG
Settlin' In
Yes... this is the real Mo-DAWG ..
Posts: 47
|
Post by Mo-DAWG on Oct 27, 2005 9:23:51 GMT -5
Judge signs death warrant for Crips gang co-founder Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 7:10 a.m. EDT (11:10 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge signed a death warrant Monday for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a co-founder of the notorious Crips gang who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his children's books. Williams is scheduled to die December 13 at San Quentin prison. The judge rejected requests by his attorneys to delay the execution until December 22 to give them more time to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The December 13 date means attorneys have only until November 8 to submit a clemency request. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Williams' case earlier this month. "This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point," Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders said. "That is a long delay in itself, and I would hate to add to that delay." Williams, 51, and a high school friend started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971. Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a convenience store worker, in 1979. He also was convicted of killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year. Williams maintains he is innocent, and supporters cite his renunciation of his past and his efforts to curtail gang violence, including a series of children's books he co-wrote in prison. Supporters have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel in literature, and a cable TV movie of his life last year starred Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx. Dozens of death penalty opponents demonstrated outside the courtroom. Among them was actor Mike Farrell, who said the proceedings failed to consider "his value, his change, his transformation." Lora Owens, Albert Owens' stepmother, said Williams does not deserve clemency. "I didn't convict the man and I didn't put a death sentence on him, but I want justice for Albert to be done," she said in a recent telephone interview. "I will not let it go." Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. tookies announced execution has nothing to do with justice anymore...its a political thing ... so the governor will definitely not dare to give clemency ... Mo-DAWG tookie i wish you all the luck in the world CUZZ !!!!!
|
|
|
Post by judywaits4u on Oct 27, 2005 11:40:38 GMT -5
Dear Mo, I think the clemency hearing could go either way, I think if the board recommends clemency then Arnie will support it, so I think that is going to be the biggest factor.
Love and hugs, Judy
|
|
Mo-DAWG
Settlin' In
Yes... this is the real Mo-DAWG ..
Posts: 47
|
Post by Mo-DAWG on Oct 27, 2005 11:52:13 GMT -5
Dear Mo, I think the clemency hearing could go either way, I think if the board recommends clemency then Arnie will support it, so I think that is going to be the biggest factor. Love and hugs, Judy i hope you´re right Judy ...i´m very suspicious about the whole thing ... i still think it has a big political factor ... we can just hope for tookie ... Mo-DAWG
|
|
sdl
New Arrival
Posts: 0
|
Post by sdl on Oct 27, 2005 20:37:27 GMT -5
I don't trust Ahhh-Nuld. If I'm not msitaken, after his first execution, he was more or less told he wasn't welcome in Austria..am I correct?
|
|
Mo-DAWG
Settlin' In
Yes... this is the real Mo-DAWG ..
Posts: 47
|
Post by Mo-DAWG on Oct 28, 2005 5:30:44 GMT -5
I don't trust Ahhh-Nuld. If I'm not msitaken, after his first execution, he was more or less told he wasn't welcome in Austria..am I correct? oh yes youre very right about that sdl ... the austrians were pretty pissed about him and still are... Mo-DAWG
|
|
|
Post by Maggie on Oct 30, 2005 10:37:41 GMT -5
I do not think Tookie will be executed. I just can't fathom that he will be put to death after all that he has done. I think Arnold will do the only thing he can which is to give him LWOP. If he doesn't....... then I think the backlash will be so huge.... I could even see riots.... I don't think Arnold or any person would want that on their head... putting a man who has done so much that he has been nominated for the nobel peace prize to death..... no way.... I hope I am right because if he gets executed I will lose all hope for humanity and justice in this country..... It just can't happen..... it just can't!! Please everyone sign the petition..... pass it on to every person you know and ask them to pass it on!
|
|
|
Post by judywaits4u on Oct 30, 2005 10:43:26 GMT -5
I do not think Tookie will be executed. I just can't fathom that he will be put to death after all that he has done. I think Arnold will do the only thing he can which is to give him LWOP. If he doesn't....... then I think the backlash will be so huge.... I could even see riots.... I don't think Arnold or any person would want that on their head... putting a man who has done so much that he has been nominated for the nobel peace prize to death..... no way.... I hope I am right because if he gets executed I will lose all hope for humanity and justice in this country..... It just can't happen..... it just can't!! Please everyone sign the petition..... pass it on to every person you know and ask them to pass it on! Dear Maggie, The problem here and for the Pro-CP movement as a whole is that should Tookie have his sentence commuted, the system will have to admit that even people who have committed heinous crimes can be reformed. Once you admit that, then the whole basis for retaining CP collapses. Love and hugs, Judy
|
|
|
Post by Maggie on Oct 30, 2005 10:54:27 GMT -5
Hi Judy....
As it should...... and if Tookie Williams has proved that, which imo he has... then so be it! People have to accept the facts! Judy do you think he might still be executed?
|
|
|
Post by CCADP on Oct 30, 2005 10:58:51 GMT -5
I'd be surprised if they didn't execute him just because of all his good works. Seems awful but I just have no faith in US justice after doing this for eight years. None.
It would be the stupidest move ever; but I think The Terminator will allow the execution. I hope he won't - I hope the $*#& Nobel prize nomination will make a difference. But I will be more suprised if they stay it than if they kill him.
I hope I'm wrong.
|
|