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Crips Founder Williams Denied Clemency
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:45 pmby Sonny
Looks like Tookie is going to get the death penalty tonight at San Quentin Prison as Gov. Schwarzenegger has refused to get involved.
Putting aside the Death Penalty debate, I think it's comical & sad that celebrities get involved with these cases.
I wonder how much violence we will set tonight in various locales across the country as people "protest."
By DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press Writer
Dec 12 3:39 PM US/Eastern
SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang who awaited execution early Tuesday in a case that stirred debate over capital punishment and the possibility of redemption on death row. Williams, 51, is set to die by injection at San Quentin State Prison after midnight for murdering four people in two 1979 holdups.
Hollywood stars and death penalty opponents mounted a campaign to save his life, making him one of the nation's biggest death-row cause celebres in decades. His supporters argued that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had made amends during more than two decades in prison by writing a memoir and children's books about the dangers of gangs.
Williams stands to become the 12th California condemned inmate executed since lawmakers reinstated the death penalty in 1977 after a brief hiatus.
Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down a clerk in a convenience store holdup and a mother, father and daughter in a motel robbery weeks later. Williams claimed he was innocent.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/12/D8EETVQG0.html
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:54 pmby shrekjr
I think it is sad that 24 years of time and money were spent on this.
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:20 pmby benji
Agreed. What took so long?
I love how celebrities think they can have a say in law and politics.
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:24 pmby DG
benji wrote:Agreed. What took so long?
I love how celebrities think they can have a say in law and politics.
Unfortunately, they don't think they can...they know they can.
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:41 pmby mholtz
I, personally, am against the death penalty, and I am proud to live in a state that doesnt have it. But I also don't think that my personal beliefs should dictate laws in a state that I don't live in.
Rest in Peace Tookie. May God bless your soul.
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:14 pmby Hackalicious
benji wrote:Agreed. What took so long?
I love how celebrities think they can have a say in law and politics.
What took so long? I'd prefer to live in a system that allows a death row inmate to exhaust all legal options before the government kills them. Especially with so many "guilty" death row inmates being exonerated by DNA evidence lately. Even one innocent person being put to death for a crime they didn't commit is a tragedy. (That's not implying that this guy Tookie is innocent.)
A seperate issue is simply fairness in the death penalty's application. If you're black, you're much more likely to get the death penalty than a white person charged with the exact same crime. That's just a sad fact of our legal system.
Posted:
Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:22 pmby Tim Whitehead
benji wrote:I love how celebrities think they can have a say in law and politics.
Celebrities don't have a say in law and politics....
citizens do. Celebrities just happen to get more press when put work into things like this.
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:42 amby wheelz33
I agree with Hackalicious. The fact that somebody innocent has been put to death before, and it most likely will happen again, is enough to make me against the death penalty. What is gained from putting somebody to death? Why take the chance?
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:23 amby KnoxVegas
Point of fact:
Stanley Williams marks the second person that Jamie Foxx has portrayed in a bio pic that has died. First, Ray Charles died during the filming of Ray and now Stanley Williams.
As frustrating as it may be, the appeals process is slow. Just think for a minute if you were in the unfortunate position that your life hung in the balance and an appeal was all you had.
I also agree that citizens effect change in this country and that those that are annointed was celebrity status have a forum that the average citizen does not: the media. I will recuse myself at this point.
Then again, there is an easy way to avoid the death penalty: don't kill no body. Funny how simple that really is, no?
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:06 amby Sonny
KnoxVegas wrote:Then again, there is an easy way to avoid the death penalty: don't kill no body. Funny how simple that really is, no?
The gentlemen from Moline, Illinois is wise beyond his years.
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 8:27 amby Danny Hogan
death penalty feelings aside, i do appreciate the fact that Aahnold stuck to his guns.
Jaimie Fox support, ok i get it he played him in the movie
Snoop Dogg, of course he rocks the blue bandana
Bianca Jagger......Hmmm...ok....i guess...Carrot Top was not available for comment?
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 8:46 amby mholtz
KnoxVegas wrote:Point of fact:
Stanley Williams marks the second person that Jamie Foxx has portrayed in a bio pic that has died. First, Ray Charles died during the filming of Ray and now Stanley Williams.
Note to self: If Jamie Foxx asks to portray me in a biographical film... say no.
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:38 amby Danny Hogan
coming this summer, jamie fox is coach holtz, the expert web designer and coach who landed the first recruit from the MIAA for the MSU spartans...
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:54 pmby FLAK
Danny Hogan wrote:coming this summer, jamie fox is coach holtz, the expert web designer and coach who landed the first recruit from the MIAA for the MSU spartans...
sounds like quite the summer blockbuster, ill wait for the dvd
Posted:
Tue Dec 13, 2005 3:24 pmby benji
Hackalicious wrote:benji wrote:Agreed. What took so long?
I love how celebrities think they can have a say in law and politics.
What took so long? I'd prefer to live in a system that allows a death row inmate to exhaust all legal options before the government kills them. Especially with so many "guilty" death row inmates being exonerated by DNA evidence lately. Even one innocent person being put to death for a crime they didn't commit is a tragedy. (That's not implying that this guy Tookie is innocent.)
A seperate issue is simply fairness in the death penalty's application. If you're black, you're much more likely to get the death penalty than a white person charged with the exact same crime. That's just a sad fact of our legal system.
Sorry, I didn't direct that statement appropriately. I was trying to express my intolerance for gang-bangers and organized crime members. I have decent faith in our legal system, although it does have its mistakes, but I am happy that this criminal was finally processed accordingly by the legal system. I hope that the course of action taken was in fact the correct one.
As for the celebrities, I know they don't actually have a direct effect on our legal system, but it saddens me how society, in general, so readily accepts and supports celebrity involvement in such matters.