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1 3 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 Crips founder will die on December 13 unless Governor Schwarzenegger grants him clemency
They crossed paths long ago. Now Tookie is asking Arnie for mercy
Dan Glaister One afternoon in the mid-1970s, Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a keen bodybuilder and the co-founder of the Crips gang, was walking along the broadwalk at Venice Beach, Santa Monica, near Los Angeles. He passed the then Mr Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was out for a stroll with a friend.
"See that guy there?" Mr Schwarzenegger said, pointing to Williams' bulging muscles. "Those aren't arms, they're legs." Now, more than a quarter of a century later, the paths of the man who became a movie star and politician and the man who became a convicted multiple murderer are about to cross again. Article continues At 12.01am on December 13, Williams will be executed by lethal injection for the murders of four people during two robberies committed more than a quarter of a century ago. The only person who can spare him, should he choose to exercise his power of clemency, is the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr Schwarzenegger faces a tough choice, for Williams, 51, is a model of jailhouse redemption. Although he has always maintained his innocence, he has renounced his gang life and written children's books aimed at steering them away from gangs. He has counselled gang members from behind bars, been nominated five times for the Nobel peace prize, and his life story has been made into a film starring Jamie Foxx. "His status was legendary," said Najee Ali, a former gang member turned community activist who served two years in prison. "He was the first ghetto superstar. He's what we call a big homie. So many preachers, politicians and law enforcement officers talk about stopping gang violence but they don't have any experience of it. But when you have the founder of the most well-known gang in history, it speaks a lot." At the time of the crimes, Williams was a feared figure on the streets of what was then known as South Central Los Angeles. As the co-founder of the Crips, he carried a fearsome reputation for violence and the control he exerted over the gang. The crimes for which he was convicted were heinous. On February 28 1979, said the prosecution at his trial, Williams and two other men robbed a 7-11 convenience store in Pico Rivera, east of Los Angeles. Williams took the store assistant, 26-year-old father of two Albert Owens, into a cold room and shot him twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. Williams got away with around $100. On March 11 1979, the prosecution alleged, Williams shot the owners of a small motel in Los Angeles, Tsai-Shen Yang and her husband Yen-Yi Yang, as well as their 43-year-old daughter Ye-Chen Lin, before stealing about $100. At his trial in 1981, Williams was found guilty of the four murders and given four death sentences. But his conviction, Williams has argued, was unsafe. Forensic evidence was never linked to him, he has said, and claims the prosecution relied on the testimony of informants whose integrity was compromised. His lawyers have also argued that jury selection was tainted: the prosecutor, Robert Martin, dismissed the three African-Americans in the jury pool. The prosecutor also compared Williams to a "Bengal tiger in captivity in a zoo". Once inside prison, Williams continued his gang activity, behaviour that brought him six and a half years in solitary confinement. It was during this time, he has said, that he began to see the error of his ways. In 1997, he wrote an open apology for his gang activities, but not for the killings of which he was convicted. "I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did," he wrote. "I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions." Those solutions included writing nine children's books aimed at preventing young people joining gangs. He has published a memoir of his time in prison and, last year, an autobiography titled Blue Rage, Black Redemption (blue is the colour of the Crips gang). In August this year Williams received a President's Call to Service Award in recognition of his work with young people. The accompanying citation from President George Bush noted that: "Through service to others, you demonstrate the outstanding character of America and help strengthen our country." Two months later, in October, the supreme court rejected his final appeal without hearing it. After serving 24 years on death row in San Quentin, Williams has exhausted the appeals process. Governor Schwarzenegger is his only hope. "Arnold is really caught in a bind," said author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson. "He's up for re-election next year and he's not going to win without iron-clad support from his conservative base. And when you look at the climate, California is still a death penalty state. I can't see a win-win for Arnold Schwarzenegger granting clemency to Tookie Williams. It doesn't fly. Tookie Williams, to be brutally frank, is doomed." In the two clemency appeals Mr Schwarzenegger has heard, he has ruled against a reprieve. Williams has until tomorrow to file his request for clemency. The LA district attorney's office, which brought the original prosecution, has until November 17 to file a response, to which Williams' legal team can respond by November 21. In a parallel move, other lawyers representing Williams will present a "discovery motion" detailing new evidence that was not heard at his trial and has only now been uncovered. Williams' petition for clemency is not expected to address his guilt or innocence. Instead, his lawyers are likely to focus on his rehabilitation. "The governor will take all the facts that are submitted to him into consideration and after consultation reach a decision," a spokeswoman for Mr Schwarzenegger said. His two previous decisions do not bode well for Williams. In rejecting Donald Beardslee's appeal for clemency in January this year, Mr Schwarzenegger wrote: "I am not moved to mercy by the fact that Beardslee has been a model prisoner. I expect no less." Williams' supporters wonder what sort of anti-rehabilitation message a denial of clemency will send. Standing on the corner of West 43rd Street in LA, a small group of them gathered last week. Zane Smith is a former gang member and contemporary of Williams. "Me and Tookie had our histories," he said. "But when they talked about putting him to death, I had to put it aside. Tookie was never a killer. He was a bodybuilder. Arnold Schwarzenegger was his hero." 2 7 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 'Tookie' Williams' Son Allegedly Rapes Girl At Gunpoint
KNBC-TV FONTANA, Calif. - Southern California law enforcement officers searched Tuesday for a 36-year-old rape suspect believed to be a son of Crips street gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who is awaiting execution. Lafayette Jones, a registered sex offender who may be in the Los Angeles area, allegedly lured a 13-year-old girl into his car in northern Fontana on Saturday, promising to take her shopping at a mall, police said. "He told her that he had just got paid and that he wanted to buy her some new shoes," the girl's mother, whose identity was concealed due to the nature of the crime, told NBC4. "And he said, I will have you back before your Mom gets home, and it will be a surprise. And she thought it was OK." Police told NBC4 that Jones allegedly sexually assaulted the girl at gunpoint. "After he got her into the car, he put a gun to her head and forced the victim to commit certain sexual acts upon him," Fontana police Sgt. William Megenney told the station. Left at the Ontario Mills mall six hours later, relatives told NBC4 the girl had been beaten up and forced to drink alcohol. "The reason why he took my daughter is because I didn't love him anymore, and I loved her," the girl's mother told NBC4. "And he was trying to hurt me. And if he ever loved me or cared anything about me, he would turn himself in." Jones, who police identified as a son of Williams, had lived in Fontana, but the girl's relatives told NBC4 that they had no idea that Jones had a criminal past. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders recently set a Dec. 13 execution date for Williams, who was convicted of killing four people during a 1979 robbery spree. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is in China on a trade mission, has not responded to pleas to commute Williams' sentence. 2 7 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 Schwarzenegger weighs clemency for ex-Crip
Nov. 26, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would consider granting clemency to convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The governor said he would meet Dec. 8 in a private hearing with Williams' lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved. Schwarzenegger has the authority to commute a death sentence to life without parole, but he is not obligated to hold a hearing. In Schwarzenegger's case, he decides clemency requests on a "case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said. Two other clemency petitions have come before Schwarzenegger. Neither was granted. Williams, 51, faces a lethal injection on Dec. 13 for the 1979 slayings of a Whittier convenience store clerk and three people at a Pico Rivera motel. He has maintained his innocence and has asked the California Supreme Court to reopen his case, alleging shoddy forensics wrongly connected him to three of the murders. The Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the petition. Los Angeles County prosecutors and victims' relatives have demanded his execution. Along with asking Schwarzenegger to commute Williams' death sentence, his lawyers submitted what they said were signatures of 32,000 people supporting his petition for clemency. Supporters, including rapper Snoop Dogg and Ras Baraka, the deputy mayor of Newark, N.J., have urged Schwarzenegger to spare Williams' life so he can continue his work with young people as an anti-gang activist. Williams founded the Crips with a childhood friend in 1971 in Los Angeles, where the gang battled rivals for territory and control of the drug trade. In prison, however, Williams gained international acclaim for co-writing children's books about the dangers of gang life. An award-winning television movie starring Jamie Foxx, "Redemption," was based on his life. Schwarzenegger, in dealing with the two previous clemency requests, denied a hearing last year for Kevin Cooper, whose execution was later stayed by a federal appeals court, and held a public hearing this year for Donald Beardslee but declined to spare him. 0 2 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Williams says he's prepared for death but hoping for life
In interview, condemned killer denies guilt, tells of redemption
Leslie Fulbright Stanley Tookie Williams is not afraid to die. The 51-year-old convicted murderer, who has spent nearly half of his life on Death Row, knows his scheduled execution date is less than two weeks away, but he says he is not fearful, that it's a prospect he has dealt with his entire life. "Being near death is nothing new to me or any other black male," Williams said Thursday during an interview in a visiting room at San Quentin State Prison. "I've been shot and close to death many times. This is no different. "But I am praying that I live. Of course, I want to live." On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court denied a final appeal by Williams' attorneys to reopen his case. Now, his fate is in the hands of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Williams, his supporters and his attorneys hope the anti-violence work that has led to five Nobel Peace Prize nominations will persuade the governor to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole. A private clemency hearing is set for Thursday, five days before his death date. In preparation for the execution, prison officials have asked Williams what he would like for his last meal, whether he wants to invite any friends or family to witness his death and whether he would like a minister present. "I told them that if I am going to die, I don't want food or water or sympathy from the place that is going to kill me," said Williams, a soft-spoken man with a bodybuilder's physique and graying hair that is pulled into a tight ponytail. "I don't want anyone present for the sick and perverted spectacle. The thought of that is appalling and inhumane. It is disgusting for a human to sit and watch another human die." Williams was convicted in 1981 of four murders. He denies committing the 1979 killings but is an admitted founder of the Crips, one of the state's most notorious gangs. During his first decade in jail, he had fights and problems with authority. He spent more than six years in solitary confinement, and that, he says, is where his reform came about. "I battled my demons and eliminated my vices," he said. He also scoured the dictionary and studied philosophy, black history and psychology. Since then, he has written 10 books intended to deter disadvantaged youth from joining gangs. He also has made phone calls to juvenile hall, taped videos for gang truce meetings and answered e-mails from troubled youth. "I am praying that the governor will recognize my work," Williams said over lunch, a turkey sandwich and can of grapefruit juice purchased by one of his visitors. "Clemency is not based on legal issues but on individual change that benefits society. "I have changed and am doing something that is positive and productive and is not at all disruptive to the prison." Each day, Williams wakes up about 4 a.m., takes a shower and then prays. That is followed by about an hour of exercise in his cell. Then, he says, he spends the rest of the day typing. He is working on two books, one about violence and racism and another about female gangs. He says he won't stop writing until he is forced to, that he wants his books to help as many children as possible while he is alive. Prosecutors and some prison officials have denounced Williams, saying his work is a hoax and alleging that his failure to go through an official gang "debriefing" means that he is still involved. "They despise me because I was able to rehabilitate myself without snitching," he said. "They don't want a prototype that conflicts with their methodology. They don't want my method of redemption to become contagious. "If I were any other ethnic background, those guards would be speaking on my behalf. It doesn't matter if San Quentin likes me. Children believe, and that is all that I care about. My message transcends all the things they say." Williams' high-profile case has garnered much support and reignited a discussion about capital punishment. On Wednesday, celebrities, former gang members and activists held rallies in cities around the world to denounce the death penalty and demand that he be kept alive. Opponents, however, have suggested that Williams is not truly redeemed because he has not confessed to the killings. "It is absurd for a person to apologize for something he didn't do," Williams said. "I will not lower my integrity. It would be wrong." Williams says he wouldn't change anything about his life, because it took the bad times to get to the good. He says he probably would not be an author if not for his tragic start. "I grew up believing I was inferior, and everything I did was based on survival," he said. "Now I put all of my effort toward redeeming myself and helping children. I live it and breathe it. I have peace in my heart and mind, because my redemption keeps me strong and focused. "I am preparing to live, not die." 0 8 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Focus on Williams' victims
By Kim Curtis SAN FRANCISCO - One victim was a young convenience store clerk and military veteran who moved back to California to fight for custody of his daughters. The other three were family members who owned a motel they were hoping to sell because the neighborhood had grown too rough. For all four, plans to change their lives were cut short by the sawed-off shotgun of Crips co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams during a pair of 1979 robberies in Los Angeles County that have put him on Death Row. Their stories are part of the pitch prosecutors have made to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deny clemency and let Williams die by lethal injection on Tuesday, but most of the news coverage has focused on the criminal, not the crime. Family members say too much attention is being paid to Williams and too little is focused on their loved ones who got no second chances, no opportunities to turn their lives around. With the help of prosecutors and victims' rights advocates, they plan to urge the governor today to consider their loss - store clerk Albert Owens, 26, and motel owners Yen-I Yang, 76, and Tsai-Shai Yang, 63, and their daughter Ye-Chen Lin, 43, who left behind shattered families and changed lives. Williams claims he's innocent and his supporters say he is more valuable alive than dead as he works behind bars to keep young people away from gangs. They want Schwarzenegger to reduce Williams' death sentence to life in prison without parole. Williams, 51, co-founded the Crips gang in Los Angeles with a high school buddy when he was 17. He has since renounced his gangster past, spoken to community groups by phone from San Quentin State Prison and co-written a series of children's books warning them about the dangers of a criminal life. Schwarzenegger has agreed to hear from lawyers on both sides during a private one-hour meeting today. He's already received letters from family members who say Williams deserves to die. Owens' stepmother wrote that Williams caused her family 26 years of anguish. "His just punishment, his execution, could provide us some closure and peace," Lora Owens wrote. In an interview, she said Williams' books, his Nobel peace and literature prize nominations by a lawmaker, professors and others, and his life story portrayed in a made-for-television movie called "Redemption," reopen old wounds. Her husband died in 1995 and she said one of his last concerns was justice for his son. "It was on his mind up to the very end," she said. "You just don't forget things like that. You don't put it behind you." Owens had two young daughters when he died in a 7-Eleven storage room about 4 a.m. on Feb. 28, 1979, shot twice in the back with a sawed-off shotgun. Four years earlier, he had split with his wife, leaving his two daughters to be raised by their mother, who had remarried. On March 11, 1979, less than two weeks after the Owens murder, three members of the Yang family were gunned down after Williams broke into the Brookhaven Motel. They were preparing to sell the business because the neighborhood had deteriorated, according to the prosecutor at the time. The couple's son, Robert Yang, was awakened by gunfire, called police and later testified against Williams. Efforts by The Associated Press to track down surviving Yang family members were unsuccessful, but according to the state Attorney General's Office, they support the jury's verdict and oppose clemency. 0 8 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Lawyers appeal for ex-gangster's life
Gov. Schwarzenegger holds clemency hearing for Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams is to be executed on Tuesday
NBC News SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Lawyers for Stanley Tookie Williams took their case to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to spare the founder of the murderous Crips gang from execution. The closed-door meeting offered defense lawyers and prosecutors 30 minutes each to argue the fate of Williams, a 51-year-old gangster-turned-peace-activist scheduled to die Tuesday for murdering four people during two 1979 robberies. “I’m not going to this hearing with hope. I’m going to this hearing frightened to death,” defense attorney Peter Fleming Jr. said. “If we fail as counsel, a man dies.” Outside the Capitol, about 75 demonstrators chanted, “Love life, save Stan’s life.” The clemency hearing ended at approximately 11:30 a.m. PT. Defense attorneys planned to argue not that Williams is innocent, but that his life should be spared because his teachings from behind bars have helped many gang members change their ways. In more than two decades on death row at San Quentin Prison, he has renounced his past and written children’s books about the dangers of gang life. Prosecutors, California’s attorney general and victims’ relatives have demanded Williams’ execution. Prosecutors and other law enforcement authorities say that the Crips are responsible for thousands of deaths and that Williams has refused to own up to his crimes and inform on his gang cohorts. Schwarzenegger has said the decision of whether to commute the death sentence to life in prison will be difficult. His staff said he was not expected to make a decision Thursday. No California governor has granted clemency since 1967, when Ronald Reagan spared the life of a brain-damaged killer. Hollywood celebrities and capital punishment foes are among those calling for Williams’ life to be spared. On Tuesday, Bruce Gordon, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, delivered to the governor’s office petitions from more than 56,000 people urging clemency. “We implore you, governor, to find it in your heart. Talk to God. Save Tookie so that he can save others’ lives,” said Donald Lacy, one of the demonstrators Thursday. The Oakland man said he wanted vengeance after his 16-year-old daughter was killed by gang members in 1997, but later decided forgiveness was more rewarding. Williams’ lawyer said Wednesday that if clemency is denied, there is not much of a case to bring to the federal courts. He said he would have to demonstrate that Williams is innocent, and “we’re not in a position to do that.” Williams, 51, was sentenced to death for the murder of a store clerk and a family running a motel in separate 1979 robberies. After 24 years in prison, he is set to be executed by lethal injection next Tuesday at San Quentin prison north of San Francisco. Supporters of clemency for Williams have stepped up their lobbying in the past few days and a university professor submitted the former gang leader’s name for a Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday. “It’s one attempt just to draw attention to the anti-gang work that Mr. Williams has been doing,” said Philip Gasper, a philosophy professor at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, Calif. “If the governor is paying attention, maybe it will remind him of one of the key arguments in the clemency issue.” Professors, legislators and others are among those who can submit proposals for Nobel Peace Prizes; the latest submission by letter was the sixth on behalf of Williams. Schwarzenegger has twice denied clemency appeals since coming to office in 2003. The last California governor to grant clemency before an execution was Ronald Reagan in 1967. Williams, an avid bodybuilder, says he met Schwarzenegger several times in the early 1970s in the Los Angeles area, including at the famed Muscle Beach gym. The governor has said he does not recall meeting Williams. “There are millions of people that have said that they have worked out with me,” he said last month. “So first of all, many of them did, and I don’t remember them, and many of them didn’t.” 1 1 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Schwarzenegger’s judgement day approaches
By Ros Davidson The Terminator, Stanley “Tookie” Williams and Braveheart: three larger-than-life men, are as if locked in gladiatorial combat in the biggest, most colourful state of them all. First up is Arnold Schwarzenegger, ex-bodybuilder and action movie star turned moderate Republican governor of California. Early yesterday, he still wrestled with his conscience. He had yet to decide, publicly, whether to grant clemency for “Tookie” Williams, ex-gang leader and America’s most prominent condemned man.
Williams, an African-American from poor inner-city Los Angeles, will be executed at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday morning, unless Schwarzenegger intervenes. The Austrian-born governor must now also wrestle with a white man – Mel Gibson, the LA-based, Australian - raised actor and favourite son of conservative Catholics. Right-wing Republicans, angered by the governor’s centrism, are promoting Gibson as a replacement for Schwarzenegger, whose political popularity is shaky. This weekend especially, the triad symbolises the contradictory and often dark forces in a state where so much seems epic yet surreal. Violence on the streets and movie screen; celluloid stars remaking themselves as politicians; immigrants and gang members; and overwhelming support for capital punishment despite the liberal-leaning big cities. The likely execution of Williams, 51, is the state’s most controversial in more than 20 years and Schwarzenegger’s most difficult decision yet. In Los Angeles, Williams co-founded the notorious Crips gang, whose members have killed literally thousands over the years. Williams was condemned by an all-white jury for the cold-blooded shooting of three Taiwanese immigrants in their motel, and the execution-style murder of a 26-year-old ex-soldier and parking lot attendant in 1979 for a few dollars. He denied the murders. Yet Williams’s backers say he is so redeemed, that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times for his anti-gang work. A crescendo of clemency pleas was still rising early yesterday as The Terminator – Schwarzenegger’s most famous movie role – contemplated the terminated. “Don’t kill this guy. Don’t kill him,” pleaded Jamie Foxx, the actor and ex gang member. Foxx, who starred as Williams in a TV bio-pic, had just visited the condemned man in San Quentin prison. Williams’s backers argue that he has changed, during 24 years on Death Row, since the days when he when he packed a 12 gauge shotgun, 20-inch biceps and smoked PCP-laced cigarettes. “Like locusts we swarmed and stripped people of their valuables – and then melted quickly away,” he wrote in his memoir. He has since written nine anti-gang books for youngsters and, say his backers, brokered peace pacts between gangs from Los Angeles to Johannesburg and Northern Ireland. He received the 2005 Presidential Call to Service Award from a panel of volunteers and signed by President Bush, though the White House said Bush was unaware of the details. On Friday, Russell Simmons", godfather of hip hop, released a letter he had written to Schwarzenegger, pleading with him to make the most “moral, humane, and spiritual decision”. But doing so could erode further Schwarzenegger’s support, which waned even more last week among conservatives after he appointed a Democrat activist and lesbian as his top aide. Some two-thirds of Californians support the death penalty. Even amongst African-Americans in California, as many are for capital punishment as opposed (45% in each case). Previously, Schwarzenegger, who is said to be personally opposed to capital punishment, has said he must uphold the laws of California and has refused twice to commute death sentences. Since executions were reintroduced in the US in 1976, governors have almost always commuted only because of problems in judicial procedure, or evidence, or the criminal’s mental health – but not because of mercy or redemption. “Governors have usually shied away from a more personal decision,” says Dr Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, an expert on California politics at the University of Southern California. A governor Braveheart is a bizarre prospect, but unlikely. A spokesman for Gibson’s Icon Productions said the actor is unaware of the approach by the California Republican Assembly. What’s telling, for California and Tookie Williams, is that Gibson’s political boosters, on www.melgibsonforgovernor.com, are lauding him for his ultra-conservative religious views, as seen in his film The Passion Of The Christ. It’s a political nightmare for Schwarzenegger, though obviously his decision pales with the reality of murder, or the death chamber. On Thursday, San Quentin officials started preparing Williams for possible execution. On Monday, the entire prison will then be locked down, to stop riots and ensure the lethal injection starts at exactly 12:01 in the dark of night. 1 2 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 STATEMENT OF DECISION
Request for Clemency by Stanley Williams
December 12, 2005 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement Monday following his decision not to grant clemency to convicted murder Stanley Tookie Williams: Stanley Williams has been convicted of brutally murdering four people during two separate armed robberies in February and March 1979. A California jury sentenced him to death, and he is scheduled for execution on December 13, 2005. During the early morning hours of February 28, 1979, Williams and three others went on a robbery spree. Around 4 a.m., they entered a 7-Eleven store where Albert Owens was working by himself. Here, Williams, armed with his pumpaction shotgun, ordered Owens to a backroom and shot him twice in the back while he lay face down on the floor. Williams and his accomplices made off with about $120 from the store’s cash register. After leaving the 7-Eleven store, Williams told the others that he killed Albert Owens because he did not want any witnesses. Later that morning, Williams recounted shooting Albert Owens, saying “You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him.” Williams then made a growling noise and laughed for five to six minutes. On March 11, 1979, less than two weeks later, Williams, again armed with his shotgun, robbed a family-operated motel and shot and killed three members of the family: (1) the father, Yen-I Yang, who was shot once in the torso and once in the arm while he was laying on a sofa; (2) the mother, Tsai-Shai Lin, who was shot once in the abdomen and once in the back; and (3) the daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, who was shot once in her face. For these murders, Williams made away with approximately $100 in cash. Williams also told others about the details of these murders and referred to the victims as “Buddha-heads.” Now, his appeals exhausted, Williams seeks mercy in the form of a petition for clemency. He claims that he deserves clemency because he has undergone a personal transformation and is redeemed, and because there were problems with his trial that undermine the fairness of the jury’s verdict. Williams’ case has been thoroughly reviewed in the 24 years since his convictions and death sentence. In addition to his direct appeal to the California Supreme Court, Williams has filed five state habeas corpus petitions, each of which has been rejected. The federal courts have also reviewed his convictions and death sentence. Williams filed a federal habeas corpus petition, and the U.S. District Court denied it. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed this decision. Williams was also given a number of post-trial evidentiary hearings, and he and his lawyers had the opportunity at these hearings to present evidence that was not heard at trial. The jury’s decision has withstood these challenges. In all, Williams’ case has been the subject of at least eight substantive judicial opinions. Prior to the filing of the clemency petition, the state court habeas process was completed on June 21, 1995 when the California Supreme Court denied Williams’ fourth state habeas corpus petition. The federal court habeas process was completed on October 11, 2005 when the United States Supreme Court denied Williams’ writ of certiorari. The claim that Williams received an unfair trial was the subject of this extensive litigation in the state and federal courts. The courts considered the sufficiency of his counsel, the strategic nature of counsel’s decisions during the penalty phase of Williams’ trial, the adequacy and reliability of testimony from informants, whether Williams was prejudiced by security measures employed during his trial, whether he was competent to stand trial, whether the prosecutor impermissibly challenged potential jurors on the basis of race, and whether his jury was improperly influenced by Williams’ threats made against them. There is no need to rehash or second guess the myriad findings of the courts over 24 years of litigation. The possible irregularities in Williams’ trial have been thoroughly and carefully reviewed by the courts, and there is no reason to disturb the judicial decisions that uphold the jury’s decisions that he is guilty of these four murders and should pay with his life. The basis of Williams’ clemency request is not innocence. Rather, the basis of the request is the “personal redemption Stanley Williams has experienced and the positive impact of the message he sends.” But Williams’ claim of innocence remains a key factor to evaluating his claim of personal redemption. It is impossible to separate Williams’ claim of innocence from his claim of redemption. Cumulatively, the evidence demonstrating Williams is guilty of these murders is strong and compelling. It includes: (1) eyewitness testimony of Alfred Coward, who was one of Williams’ accomplices in the 7-Eleven shooting; (2) ballistics evidence proving that the shotgun casing found at the scene of the motel murders was fired from Williams’ shotgun; (3) testimony from Samuel Coleman that Williams confessed that he had robbed and killed some people on Vermont Street (where the motel was located); (4) testimony from James and Esther Garrett that Williams admitted to them that he committed both sets of murders; and (5) testimony from jailhouse informant George Oglesby that Williams confessed to the motel murders and conspired with Oglesby to escape from county jail. The trial evidence is bolstered by information from Tony Sims, who has admitted to being an accomplice in the 7-Eleven murder. Sims did not testify against Williams at trial, but he was later convicted of murder for his role in Albert Owens’ death. During his trial and subsequent parole hearings, Sims has repeatedly stated under oath that Williams was the shooter. Based on the cumulative weight of the evidence, there is no reason to second guess the jury’s decision of guilt or raise significant doubts or serious reservations about Williams’ convictions and death sentence. He murdered Albert Owens and Yen-I Yang, Yee-Chen Lin and Tsai-Shai Lin in cold blood in two separate incidents that were just weeks apart. But Williams claims that he is particularly deserving of clemency because he has reformed and been redeemed for his violent past. Williams’ claim of redemption triggers an inquiry into his atonement for all his transgressions. Williams protests that he has no reason to apologize for these murders because he did not commit them. But he is guilty and a close look at Williams’ post-arrest and postconviction conduct tells a story that is different from redemption. After Williams was arrested for these crimes, and while he was awaiting trial, he conspired to escape from custody by blowing up a jail transportation bus and killing the deputies guarding the bus. There are detailed escape plans in Williams’ own handwriting. Williams never executed this plan, but his co-conspirator implicated Williams in the scheme. The fact that Williams conspired to murder several others to effectuate his escape from jail while awaiting his murder trial is consistent with guilt, not innocence. And the timing of the motel murders—less than two weeks after the murder of Albert Owens—shows a callous disregard for human life. Williams has written books that instruct readers to avoid the gang lifestyle and to stay out of prison. In 1996, a Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children’s book series was published. In 1998, “Life in Prison” was published. In 2004, Williams published a memoir entitled “Blue Rage, Black Redemption.” He has also recently (since 1995) tried to preach a message of gang avoidance and peacemaking, including a protocol for street peace to be used by opposing gangs. It is hard to assess the effect of such efforts in concrete terms, but the continued pervasiveness of gang violence leads one to question the efficacy of Williams’ message. Williams co-founded the Crips, a notorious street gang that has contributed and continues to contribute to predatory and exploitative violence. The dedication of Williams’ book “Life in Prison” casts significant doubt on his personal redemption. This book was published in 1998, several years after Williams’ claimed redemptive experience. Specifically, the book is dedicated to “Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, Dhoruba Al-Mujahid, George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the countless other men, women, and youths who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars.” The mix of individuals on this list is curious. Most have violent pasts and some have been convicted of committing heinous murders, including the killing of law enforcement. But the inclusion of George Jackson on this list defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems. There is also little mention or 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. One would expect more explicit and direct reference to this byproduct of his former lifestyle in Williams’ writings and apology for this tragedy, but it exists only through innuendo and inference. Is Williams’ redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise? Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case. Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings there can be no redemption. In this case, the one thing that would be the clearest indication of complete remorse and full redemption is the one thing Williams will not do. Clemency decisions are always difficult, and this one is no exception. After reviewing and weighing the showing Williams has made in support of his clemency request, there is nothing that compels me to nullify the jury’s decision of guilt and sentence and the many court decisions during the last 24 years upholding the jury’s decision with a grant of clemency. Therefore, based on the totality of circumstances in this case, Williams’ request for clemency is denied. DATED: December 12, 2005
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER 1 3 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Protests grow as Williams' execution nears
12/13/2005 LOS ANGELES — Anti-death penalty protests swelled Monday after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips co-founder convicted of four murders. Only a dozen protesters rallied outside Northern California's San Quentin State Prison shortly after Schwarzenegger's afternoon decision was announced, but the crowd grew to more than 1,000 late into the night. In contrast, the streets of South Los Angeles, where Williams' Crips gang and their deadly rivals, the Bloods, came to prominence in the 1980s, were quiet. Williams was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Rallies and vigils were held throughout the state in the hours leading up to Williams' execution at sites ranging from West Los Angeles Federal Building to a book store in Santa Barbara and Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Among San Quentin protesters was nurse Deborah Moore, 47, who said she drove three hours from her home in Mendocino to make a statement against the death penalty. "I'm not here to singularly represent Tookie Williams, but to say for myself there is no business in us making that judgment," she said. Other people, approached on the street, offered similar opinions. "I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised," said Kathy Mangonon of Hayward, a sales assistant in San Francisco who is opposed to the death penalty. "I was hoping that he'd take a chance, but I guess it was too big a political risk for him," she said of Schwarzenegger. Eric Bell, 46, of Walnut Creek said he had no feelings about Williams, but added: "Civilized countries shouldn't be issuing the death penalty." Moore and other San Quentin protesters, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, were outnumbered by members of the news media Monday afternoon, but a circus-like atmosphere ensued as the number of protesters climbed. Singer Joan Baez arrived at the prison gate as night fell and sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" on a make-shift stage outside the prison gates. Former M-A-S-H star Mike Farrell read a statement Monday from the anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Focus that called Schwarzenegger's decision "a shameful failure of leadership and a collapse of moral courage." The group, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International, called for a moratorium on future executions in California until the bipartisan Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice concludes its study and issues recommendations. In South Los Angeles' Leimert Park trees were plastered with "Save Tookie" signs but few people attended a daylong vigil that stretched into the night. Among them was civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who criticized Schwarzenegger for what he called a "political decision." About two dozen black demonstrators joined hands hours before the execution as anti-gang activist Elder Michael Cummings bellowed, "it's time for peace, it's time for peace in the community." Meanwhile, about 100 protesters gathered for a candlelight vigil outside a federal building in Los Angeles' Westwood area. Top officials at the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said they anticipated no trouble from protesters. "We don't expect any major outbreaks or any kind of civil disturbance. We are, however, prepared to respond to any unlawful activity that breaks out," said Assistant Sheriff Doyle Campbell. He said the department scheduled extra people to work on the days leading up to Williams' execution. Police Chief William Bratton said he expected calm. "There is too much being made of this from our perspective," Bratton said. "We will be prepared to deal with anything that occurs but we're not anti-cipating anything." 1 4 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Quiet death of a man condemned
Dan Glaister in San Quentin The moment, when it came, was gentle and dignified. The crowd of more than 1,000 who had been gathered outside the gates of San Quentin prison for four hours was meandering through a rendition of We Shall Overcome when news reached the speakers, on a makeshift stage beneath a yellow anti-death penalty banner, that Stanley "Tookie" Williams was dead. "Long live Tookie Williams," came a solitary cry. Then another, "Long live Tookie Williams." Then more, ringing through the night air, piercing the stillness, overcoming the sound of helicopters overhead. There were angry voices too. A man with a megaphone started up from the middle of the crowd. "What are we going to do about it?" he shrieked. "Do something about it, quit talking about it." Alongside the stage the footsoldiers of the Nation of Islam, clad in shiny black raincoats and trilby hats, stared impassively down at the mass of people. One group, intent on betraying what Williams' supporters saw as his legacy of peace, burned an American flag daubed with a swastika. Yet, remarkably, despite the anger, despite the impassioned shouts of "They say death row, we say hell no", the violence never came. The vigil for Williams, convicted multiple murderer and co-founder of the Crips street gang turned anti-gang campaigner and author, was the largest anyone could remember outside San Quentin's gates. Sometimes just a few people gather at the end of the dead-end residential street, where picturesque houses look down on the waters of San Francisco Bay. But Williams' case was different. It had garnered attention and focused outrage in a way that few others have achieved. He had celebrity supporters, from the rapper Snoop Dogg, who has probably done as much as anyone to glamorise the faux "gangster" lifestyle, to the actor Mike Farrell, the president of Death Penalty Focus. But Williams' final moments attracted a mass of supporters unexpected in its breadth and diversity, some drawn by opposition to the death penalty, some drawn by the belief that Williams was innocent. Williams' own insistence that he did not commit the four murders he was convicted of in 1981 merely served to confirm the need for his execution in the mind of the California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because he had not apologised or atoned for those crimes, Schwarzenegger argued, Williams could not be considered to be a changed man. And as his redemption was the basis of his plea for clemency, Schwarzenegger said he felt compelled to reject it. Throughout Monday, as the time set for the execution - 12.01am yesterday - approached, Schwarzenegger rejected further appeals from Williams' lawyers. Two new witnesses had emerged, they said, who alleged that Williams had been framed. But the governor was insistent: Williams had to die. He was not alone. Two figures made their way to the vigil to question Williams' claim for mercy. One man held up pictures from the autopsy of the victims. "Victims!" he shouted,"Get your victims here! Tookie did a lot more than write a book." But his provocation was lost in the carnivalesque atmosphere of the vigil. One man sporting a green moustache wheeled a trolley around, offering free bagels to all. Someone else set up a white sheet and a camera on a tripod to take portraits of the protesters; another played a discordant saxophone. "We need a new civil rights movement in this country starting right now," a man proclaimed repeatedly to no one in particular, while others railed against the war in Iraq and about Palestine, Hurricane Katrina and George Bush. Snippets of conversations rolled on the night air. "That's actual fact, man, that's facts"; "There's a publishing party for the Haight-Ashbury literary journal". As the night wore on people sat in huddles on the road, small groups of four or five with candles planted before them. Joan Baez sang Swing Low, Sweet Chariot in a deep, clear voice. Next to the stage, someone held a banner bearing a portrait of Schwarzenegger as action hero: "Stop me before I kill again," it read. But at midnight the crowd's activity ceased, and a quiet took hold. It was an eerie moment, more than 1,000 people squashed into a small space, maintaining their silence and their thoughts. "Friends," a speaker from the stage said at midnight, "I know you are anxious to get news. We don't know what's going on in there. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for an execution, so please take a deep breath." Inside the prison, Williams was strapped to a trolley before being injected with chemicals to induce a heart attack. Thirty-nine witnesses were present, ranging from relatives of his victims to supporters of Williams to the media. Williams, like the governor a lifelong bodybuilder, was strong enough to raise his head from the restraints to look at those looking at him. At 12.35 a voice called out, "He's flatlined", and he was pronounced dead. Three supporters inside the chamber stood and shouted: "The state of California just killed an innocent man!" Back outside, the crowd started to make its way quietly home. Many had left candles at the water's edge, a still memorial to the taking of a life. 1 4 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 U.S. execution outrages Europeans
By Vanessa Gera VIENNA, Austria -- The execution of convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams yesterday sparked outrage throughout Europe, which has a deep aversion to capital punishment sustained by the painful memory of state-organized murder during the Nazi era. The disappointment was particularly strong in Austria, native country of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, where many had hoped the former bodybuilder and film star would spare the 51-year-old Williams. Leaders of Austria's opposition Green Party even called for Mr. Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship -- a demand rejected by Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel as "absurd" despite his government's opposition to the death penalty. In Graz, Mr. Schwarzenegger's hometown, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove the California governor's name from the city's Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium. A Christian political group suggested it be renamed for Williams. "Mr. Williams had converted and, unlike Mr. Schwarzenegger, opposed every form of violence," said Richard Schadauer, chairman of the Association of Christianity and Social Democracy. Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and the issue was amplified in Williams' case because of the remorse supporters believe the Crips gang co-founder showed by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence. Six decades after World War II, opposition to the death penalty remains entrenched in Germany and Austria, a stance resulting from remorse for the evils committed by these countries under Adolf Hitler and an attempt to prevent future state-sponsored killing. At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI's top official for justice matters denounced the execution. Most of the outcry in Europe came from opposition political parties, city leaders, human rights groups and churches, with national leaders remaining silent. "Schwarzenegger has a lot of muscles, but apparently not much heart," French Socialist Party spokesman Julien Dray told RTL radio. Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's death penalty opposition. Since 1999, the monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment. "I hope there will be such an occasion soon," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said. "When it happens, we will do it with a special thought for Tookie." 2 0 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Schwarzenegger terminates name on stadium
Governor shoots down Austrian hometown’s honor after execution flap
AP SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city.
The governor’s request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger’s decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria. In a letter that began “Dear Mister Mayor,” Schwarzenegger said he decided to spare the Graz city council “further concern” should he be forced to make other clemency decisions while he’s governor. Another inmate is scheduled to be executed in California Jan. 17. “In all likelihood, during my term as governor, I will have to make similar and equally difficult decisions,” Schwarzenegger said in the letter. “To spare the responsible politicians of the city of Graz further concern, I withdraw from them as of this day the right to use my name in association with the Liebenauer Stadium.” The stadium was renamed for the former Hollywood star in 1997. He asked that the lettering be removed by year’s end. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said the letter was faxed Monday to the Graz city hall. The city council was expected to take up the matter next month. In the letter, Schwarzenegger also said he would no longer permit the use of his name “to advertise or promote the city of Graz in any way” and would return the city’s “ring of honor.” The ring was given to him in a ceremony in Graz in 1999. At the time, Schwarzenegger said he considered it “a token of sincere friendship between my hometown and me.” “Since, however, the official Graz appears to no longer accept me as one of their own, this ring has lost its meaning and value to me. It is already in the mail,” the governor wrote. Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang, was convicted of four 1979 murders. He was executed shortly after midnight Dec. 13. 3 1 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Animosity Between Schwarzenegger And Austrian Hometown Grows
AP GRAZ, Austria -- "I'll be back." That pledge from the Terminator traditionally has had special meaning in Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown. But now the romance is over between Schwarzenegger and Graz, Austria's second-largest city, after the California governor refused to spare three convicted murderers from execution and shows no signs of relenting in another case up next month.
On Tuesday, city leaders deleted all references to the bodybuilder-turned-governor on Web sites linked to Graz. Over the weekend, they stripped his name from the city's soccer stadium. The actions come two weeks after Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang who was executed Dec. 13 for four 1979 murders. The city council was scheduled to vote later this month about whether to remove Schwarzenegger's name from the stadium, but the governor beat them to it. In a letter sent last week, Schwarzenegger asked that his name be taken off and said the city was no longer allowed to use his name for promotional reasons. He also returned Graz's highest award, its ring of honor, which was given to him by city officials in 1999. In his letter, Schwarzenegger said the ring had "lost its meaning and value to me." The rift is related to Schwarzenegger's failure to grant clemency to death row inmates in California. Austrians overwhelmingly consider the death penalty barbaric. Sigi Binder of the environmentalist Green party in Graz said more than 1,500 people signed her party's online petition to rename the stadium. The appeal was closed to further signatures when Schwarzenegger himself demanded that his name be dropped.
Thousands backed a similar petition, and hundreds of supporting phone calls came in from Germany and German-speaking parts of Switzerland, she said. Her message to Schwarzenegger? "Mr. Governor, please push to have the death penalty abolished." Other Schwarzenegger bashers are less polite. "Schwarzenegger has proven that he is truly the total dolt that he plays in his films," read a recent e-mail signed "Mario" on the Web site of the daily Kurier. The issue has dominated Austrian headlines for the past two weeks. But the dispute goes beyond Schwarzenegger. The tarnishing of Austria's idol in his home country is a renewed sign of a general European disenchantment with an America many here consider out of step with their ideals. Schwarzenegger held cult-like status in Austria after his election as California governor two years ago, even though most Europeans disagreed with his positions on the Iraq war and the death penalty. Austrians focused instead on Schwarzenegger's successes since he left for America in 1968, first as Mr. Universe, then as "Conan the Barbarian" and the "Terminator," and finally his 2003 move into the governor's mansion in Sacramento. One of Austria's most popular folk groups, Die Stoakogler, paid homage to him 13 years ago in a mixture of English and the dialect of Styria, his home province. The song, which sold more than 2 million copies on vinyl and CD, begins with: "Steiermen san (are) very good, when they go to Hollywood." A special stamp bearing his image and issued to commemorate his election sold out within days. But his decision in January to allow California's first execution in three years triggered protests in front of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. A year earlier, he denied clemency for condemned inmate Kevin Cooper, whose execution was then stayed by a federal appeals court. Williams' execution was the final straw for many Austrians. For Schwarzenegger, the rationale was simple in ending the formal relationship with the city of his youth, about 120 miles south of Vienna. "It is relatively likely that I will have to meet similarly difficult decisions as governor," he wrote Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl last week, suggesting that cutting ties with the city was the best way to spare further controversy the next time he needed to make such a decision. Next time is just weeks away. Lawyers for Clarence Ray Allen, 75, have asked the governor to block their client's Jan. 17 execution for ordering hits on three people while he was behind bars in 1980. A refusal by Schwarzenegger to grant clemency and commute Allen's death sentence to life without parole is sure to provoke a new protest across Austria and Europe. Still, some continue to back their idol. While emphasizing that he, too, is against the death penalty, Nagl told The Associated Press that "no one here has the right to sit in judgment" of Schwarzenegger. Whenever he returns, "he is welcome to sit down with me for a bite of apple strudel," said Nagl, whose conservative People's Party is outnumbered on the city council by the anti-Schwarzenegger forces. Kurt Marnul, a former "Mr. Austria," accused Graz politicians of "stabbing Arnie in the back." "More than 70 percent of Americans are for the death penalty," said Marnul, 75, who works out in a gym plastered with hundreds of pictures showing him with Schwarzenegger. "This issue is none of Austria's business." |
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