Riots in LA tomorrow?
 

Court rejects California gang founder's appeal

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The California Supreme Court has rejected a late appeal to reopen the case of condemned Crips gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams, leaving his fate in the hands of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday.

Williams, 51, is slated be executed at 12:01 a.m. (0801 GMT) on Tuesday for murdering four people in two 1979 robberies around Los Angeles. His supporters had hoped the anti-gang books for children he wrote in prison would help him win clemency from Schwarzenegger, but they now appear dispirited that the celebrity governor has waited until the last day to announce his decision.

Pondering their fifth habeas corpus petition on the case over the past quarter century, the state Supreme Court on Sunday night rejected his lawyers' effort filed a day before to reopen the case.

"Claims 'One' through 'Nine' are denied on the merits," the court said. "In addition, each claim also is barred as untimely and successive."

In recent weeks, Williams' supporters had argued he was a life worth sparing because his message inspires inner-city youth. The inmate was subject of a film staring Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx.

"I see that as cruel," Barbara Becnel, who edited Williams' anti-gang books, told a news conference on Sunday when asked about the delayed word from Schwarzenegger.

Prosecutors also expect last-minute appeals to other courts before the scheduled execution by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.

In the Supreme Court petition, attorney Verna Wefald wrote: "Mr. Williams has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested.

"Given that the state's case rests on the testimony of criminal informants who had an incentive to lie, not only to obtain benefits, but to hide the truth of their involvement in these crimes, it is imperative that discovery be granted at this critical stage of Mr. Williams' case."

In an interview with Reuters last week, Ronald George, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, said there was "something wrong" with a system in which judges must routinely ponder last-minute death row legal filings after two decades of decisions.

Many death penalty experts say the claim of innocence complicates an effort to win clemency on redemptive grounds. Yet Williams has openly spoken of a brutal gang past for which he apologizes.

Death penalty opponents were expected to gather at San Quentin on the bay north of San Francisco later on Monday.

Los Angeles civic and community leaders, worried that Williams' execution could spark rioting, have urged the public to remain calm whatever the governor decides.

TERMINATED :lol

Re: Riots in LA tomorrow?
 

This probably could've been worded differently. :/

"Hey, ya think if i write some books for kids they won't kill me?"

I'm opposed to the practice, so yes, this is shitty. Riots? I dunno.

You misunderstood me. I was wondering if anyone was down for a road trip to pick up some free TVs and DVD players...

Maybe we can write a childrens book about it.

When the Black community gets angry they steal electronics.

That's a hilarious joke. I wonder if you had hit that sarcasm button you keep talking about it it would suddenly make it more original, and less cliche? I forget.

You must ruin every party.

Amusing. I say "riots in LA" and you immediately assume I'm talking about black people. I've got news for ya buddy, I don't believe you have to be black to riot, or take advantage of a riot's chaos to loot, but I'm glad I've got such a long standing advocate of racial harmony like you to keep me in check, all the same.


Kevin, we can call the book, Lil' Antonio's First Four-Fife-Niner. I'll have to credit ABCD for the inspiration to make the main character bi-racial, though.

That ought to knock a year or two off our sentence if we get caught.

there's also quite a few mexicans in california!

Ahem, the book title? We're on it.

Clemency bid was terminated. :lol

And no, I'm not tired of that joke yet. :(

wrong, zombie walk in LA.

I saw the film 'Redemption' based on this guy and I thought it was the biggest load of bollocks I have ever seen.

If he is anything like his character in the film he should most definatly fry.

I'd just like to point out his children's book sold about 330 copies. Do his supporters really want to turn this into a numbers game? Because I'd say the Crips have pulled in a few more members than that over the years. Not to mention the 10.000 lives lost to gang violence in LA since he started them.

While I'm no big fan of the death penalty, I am not going to advocate over turning a legal verdict because a man who executed four people (that can be proven) and started the most violent criminal force in the United States just because he wrote a children's book that almost no one outside of LA has seen.

Blanco, who exactly is trying to "turn this into a numbers game"?

Besides, I think the clemency bid is a little more substantial than, "Well he wrote a children's book about saying 'no' to gangs!"

Actually, part of the defense is that he might not have executed the 4 people he was convicted of killing. Sometimes, when the law gets hold of someone they just KNOW is bad, they'll convict him of something just to get him off the street. It wouldn't be the first time a man was convicted of a murder and then proved innocent after his execution. However, I am not privy to any of that 'evidence' so I cannot comment on it's credibility.

Really, I don't know that much about this guy. Maybe he's getting what he deserves. I think riots are pretty unlikely, really, but several news sources have thrown that word out when talking about this, I guess because 'riots' are big on the media's SEXY SEXY, BUY ME list.

so much for my looting spree....


seriously though, I find the public reaction so far to be very positive. :)


L.A. debates governor's decision as execution nears

STREETS QUIET, MOOD SUBDUED WHERE WILLIAMS STARTED CRIPS

By Patrick May

Mercury News

LOS ANGELES - As word spread this afternoon that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had turned down Stanley Tookie Williams' last-ditch bid for clemency, reaction was muted on the streets where Williams launched the Crips gang 35 years ago.

Some residents were saddened by the news, saying the governor had missed a golden opportunity to show true compassion hours before Williams' scheduled execution just past midnight. Others, though, felt anything but compassion for the man whose legacy in South-Central Los Angeles still seems like nothing but gang colors, bullets and blood.

``There's not a lot of anger over the governor's decision,'' said Julio Ramos, a social worker at All Peoples Christian Center in South-Central, which offers a gang-intervention program for middle-school kids. ``A lot of people feel Tookie Williams is getting what he deserved.''

John Johnson, another social worker downtown whose clients include former gang members, put it this way: ``Every time a young black male or female dies from gang violence, an intelligent person would see that the guy who started this gang to begin with should be held responsible for his actions.''

However, across town in East Los Angeles, the founder of a well-known gang-intervention program said the only thing worse than the four 1979 murders that landed Williams on Death Row was the governor's failure to prevent yet another life from being extinguished.

``There is a fate worse than death and that's the decision to execute a human being,'' said the Rev. Greg Boyle, who founded Homeboy Industries in 1988 to help at-risk youth stay out of gangs. ``This is about more than any individual's merit or worth; it's about the death penalty. No other civilized country on the planet does it. And this could have been a moment of courage for the governor, who could have simply said, `I've changed my mind. I've seen the light. Nobody will be executed as long as I'm governor.' ''

Instead, said Boyle, Schwarzenegger ``missed a golden opportunity to raise this above simply talking about somebody's worth and merit. I now worry about Arnold's salvation more than Stanley's.''

The irony was obvious: Boyle has devoted his life to trying to extract young men from the gang culture that Williams helped create. And he worried about the message that the governor's decision sends to teenagers lured by the gang lifestyle.

``Homebody Industries,'' said its founder, ``stands for redemption and second chances. If you execute him, you execute that, too.''

Despite some fears that Williams' execution might set off riots in the streets where his own life had come unwound, things have been relatively quiet this afternoon in South-Central Los Angeles. As the Rev. Kerry Allison of Hope Community Church on Florence Avenue made his rounds, he sensed a sadness among residents over the news, but not anger.

``Any loss of life is and always will be disappointing, whether it's the people he killed or his own life that is being taken away,'' he said. ``But we're also very appreciative that Mr. Williams has left a legacy for children to stay away from gangs, by showing them what gangs did to his own life.''

Allison said Williams had achieved both bad and good in his life, first by creating the Crips, then by demonstrating the evils of gangs through children's books he wrote while on Death Row.

``The emphasis should be on the latter part of his life,'' the pastor said. ``He did wrong and killed people, and our hearts go out to the grieving families of his victims. But he changed his life in the end, and we can only applaud that. That is the legacy we hope endures.''

Contact Pat May at pmay@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5689.

yeah good save. think maybe this time the citizens of simi valley will riot instead?

are Californians really debating whether or not to spare this man after it has been determind without a doubt that he murdered two people?

and fuck! he's also carrying part of the responsibility for every individual who has suffered at the hands of the gang he helped create. this guy doesn't deserve clemency.

so what if he wrote childrens books everybody knows black people cant read am i right guys

I think part of the problem is that clemency requires some level of real redemption. Schwarzenegger even said in his comments on the matter, that it was hard to consider clemency while a man who was convicted of a double murder was still swearing innocence.

Granted, he's entitled to claim whatever he wants, but he lost that battle. It's still a shame, and i do believe he genuinely reconsidered how destructive his previous behavior was, but damn. It's a tough call.

you are a real fuckin genious, man.

there's not going to be any rioting - i was just repeating what was said on the news yesterday. but keep callin me racist. it's real funny to me the way you read all this racist crap into my words and think i'm the bigot.

I just turned things you said back on you Ziggy. You're the one who came to the conclusion it paints you as a racist. I didn't call you a racist, but I did call you cliche.


So are you done waiting for the Purple People to riot, or do you think there's potential of unrest at the funeral?

It's called putting words in someone's mouth, dumbass. I never said anything about black people stealing, you did.

You racist.

So again, who were you implying might riot over Tookie? Bigot please.
I know, the news said it, you just repeated it.....bwaahahah


By the way, I was protected by Crips all through High School.

crips mostly.

by the way, what? are you stupid or just high?