Governor agrees to (Stanley 'Tookie') Williams hearing

[nofurylike]

Governor agrees to Williams hearing
Convicted killer gets closer to possible clemency
Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, November 26, 2005

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/26/BAGG3FUEJA1.DTL&feed=rss.news

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to hold a clemency hearing Dec. 8 for Stanley Tookie Williams, the condemned killer who has attracted a number of high-profile backers calling for his life to be spared.

It is believed to be the first time a California governor has held such a hearing since 1992, when Gov. Pete Wilson considered the appeal of condemned killer Robert Alton Harris, Schwarzenegger's office said Friday. Wilson denied the appeal.

-snip-

***

there are articles about this all over the media, today, including in Australia.

for much more inforamation on this, on Mr Williams, and appeals on his behalf, please see these excellent threads by Spphire Blue:

Tookie to be executed Dec. 13; PLEASE contact Schwarzenegger for clemency

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5427593

Nobel Laureates Urge Clemency for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5445949


PLEASE Support the effort to save Tookie at http://www.savetookie.org

PLEASE sign the petition for clemency:

http://www.petitiononline.com/stw4804/petition.html

To learn more about Tookie and his work on behalf of children and families across the world, visit http://www.tookie.com

PLEASE also call, email, and FAX Gov. Schwarzenegger...


Phone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

FAX: [phone]


thank you!


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

1. Supporters of clemency include Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu...

... Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.

[nofurylike]

12. yes! thank you Sapphire Blue, and thank you for kicking this! eom

[nofurylike]

14. excellent article: Jesse Jackson and Bianca Jagger support Tookie

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/11/22/1132421643529.html

Bianca's plea for Tookie
November 22, 2005 - 12:34PM

Bianca Jagger holds up a shirt after leaving San Quentin Prison.
Photo: Paul Sakuma

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and human rights champion Bianca Jagger have visited a condemned US inmate and called for celebrity Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare his life.

Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams has redeemed himself by writing children's books during his 25 years in San Quentin State Prison and still denies committing the four murders that landed him on death row, Jackson said.

"The evidence, at best, is shoddy. His reputation as a gang leader was on trial, not the actual evidence of the murders," Jackson said after he and Jagger walked out of the prison where they visited Williams.

"Not long ago we were told there was evidence of weapons of mass destruction, a slam dunk. We lost American lives on circumstantial information and we should not make that kind of life-or-death decision again."

-snip-
***

great article.


peace!

[goclark]

46. Excellent!

If you read the main stream media, evidence against Tookie wass a slam dunk.

"The evidence, at best, is shoddy. His reputation as a gang leader was on trial, not the actual evidence of the murders," Jackson said after he and Jagger walked out of the prison where they visited Williams.

I thought the MSM told us that it was a slam dunk.


My,my --- I'll believe Jesse on this one.

[Sapphire Blue]

2. PLEASE call Gov. Schwarzenegger: 916-445-2841

[Sapphire Blue]

9. kick!!!

:kick:

[nofurylike]

27. thank you for kicking, Sapphire Blue! eom

[Richard D]

3. I've heard that a snail mail . . .

. . . letter carries a lot more weight than an email. Here's the address:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

[Sapphire Blue]

5. A letter can also be faxed: 916-445-4633

[Sapphire Blue]

10. kick

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

11. Kick... PLEASE fax a letter: 916-445-4633

[nofurylike]

16. that's great, yes! will do! eom

[nofurylike]

15. great idea, thank you for the addy info, Richard D! eom

[BrotherBuzz]

23. I understand a fax carries the greatest weight these days...

Snail mail has to many cutouts for safety purposes, while the fax gets direct attention. Emails get a quick glance, but then they are deleted... Hey, that's what I've heard.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Good he has actually done a lot of good

behind bars, and as is I only favor the death penalty for high treason

[nofurylike]

18. yes, he has done a lot of good. thank you, nadinbrzezinski!

i can't even for high treason...

sigh. very hard when so many so deserve strongest punishment for it.


peace!

[Wind Dancer]

6. This is good news!

This man has made a huge impact on thousands of inner city kids living in poverty stricken areas. He's written books on the danger of gang violence and promotes a peaceful, hopeful alternate to drugs and crime.

We are the only industrialized country that still allows the barbaric practice of legalized murder. Tookie Williams will continue to contribute to the younger generation with his writings and messages, execution would be a tragedy. I highly recommend his book, BLUE RAGE, BLACK REDEMPTION.

Please contact Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tookie Williams will continue to be a powerful inspiration for the kids, execution is NOT the answer. Redemption is possible.



----------------------------------------
-snip-

After his 1981 conviction, at first Williams continued his gangster life behind bars on San Quentin's death row. But after several years in solitary confinement, and in the face of relentless hostility from the prison authorities, Stan began to rehabilitate himself. At some risk to his safety from other gang members, he publicly renounced his gang connections and apologized for the pain and harm that his past actions had caused. Since that time, Williams has dedicated himself to combating the influence of street gangs and doing whatever he can from his tiny prison cell to end gang violence.

Since the mid-1990s, Williams has written nine books for children, attempting to de-romanticize gangs, crime and prison. One of them, Life in Prison, has received two national book honors, including an award from the American Library Association. It has been used in schools, libraries, juvenile correctional facilities, and prisons throughout the United States and around the world, including in Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, South Africa. Stan has also recorded anti-gang public service announcements for radio that have aired on stations across the United States.

More than 70,000 people have sent emails to Stan's web site, expressing appreciation for his work, with many saying they have opted not to join gangs or have withdrawn from gang membership as a result of reading his books or hearing his voice. Messages like this one are typical:

My name is J______ and I was a member of a Los Angeles street gang. I would just like to let you know how big of an impact your story had on my life. Your works have made me realize the self-destruction that my involvement in a gang was causing. I love you for that. I pray for you every night. I wish you the best of luck on any further works. Thank you for saving my life.

-more-


http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/gasper181105.html

[nofurylike]

19. yes, it is, FrustratedDemInNC. thank you for posting this! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

7. kick

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

8. Clemency for Stanley “Tookie” Williams, by Tom Hayden

Clemency for Stanley “Tookie” Williams, by former 60's activist & State Senator Tom Hayden


Hon. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor
State of California

Oct. 29, 2005

Clemency for Stanley “Tookie” Williams


Dear Governor,

I want to share my thoughts and experiences with you in the matter of Stanley “Tookie” Williams. Since you will receive many legal arguments about the case or the merits of the death penalty, this letter will focus on the “Tookie” Williams I actually know. In the course of researching a book on street gangs, I interviewed him for two hours on San Quentin’s Death Row in late 2001. In addition, I have read thousands of pages of briefs about the case, and interviewed numerous people in Watts and South Central about his role in the Crips.

I can say without question that “Tookie” Williams has changed his life direction, beginning about 1992.

I can say without question that his advocacy of peace among gang members during the past decade has saved lives.

If you choose to execute him, you will be executing a living resource of great value in the long struggle to prevent gang violence.

His execution will not deter the growth of street gangs.

It may provide an Old Testament sense of justice for some victims, and satisfy prosecutors who want to see the “godfather” of the Crips put to death. It is not the interest of the people of California to satisfy those needs. Nor is it in your interest as a national and global representative of our country.

<snip>

Sincerely,

TOM HAYDEN

Continued @ http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/11/1785006.php

[Sapphocrat]

13. Thank God/dess!! Starting next letter now. n/t

[nofurylike]

20. thank you, Sapphocrat! and yes, thank God/dess! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

17. kick

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

21. Jamie Foxx: "The only birthday present I want from the Governor...

... is clemency for Stan Tookie Williams." - Jamie Foxx, whose birthday is December 13, the same day as the scheduled execution of Tookie. Foxx played Tookie in "Redemption," a film about his life.

http://www.savetookie.org/

[Sapphire Blue]

22. Upcoming events...

http://www.savetookie.org/events.html

[formernaderite]

24. I am completely against the death penalty....however

I don't buy this bullshit that tookie redeemed himself by writing nice books. He helped to ruin countless black lives for generations...there is nothing that can redeem his murderous legacy. Still....I say let him rot in jail.

[nofurylike]

25. please write or call the governor, then! thank you!

off the immediate topic, i do suggest you look into the case, more. he never was given a fair trial. and more...


peace!

[nofurylike]

26. i mean, please write AND call the governor... thank you! eom

[formernaderite]

31. When I accuse him of murder, I include the legacy

his gang has upheld. I don't need to read any further about his brand of mayhem.

[nofurylike]

38. your choice, certainly. please write and call as a DP opponent? thanks! nt

[fortyfeetunder]

43. Tookie was not the first gang founder

and the Crips are not without precedent. They emulated gangs that existed in the US throughout its history.

To make an issue of Tookie's gang history and this particular gang's notoriety, maybe consider broadening the scope and look at gang life in general....

[Sapphire Blue]

44. Some of Tookie's history...

Dead Man Talking

(excerpt)

Williams was born on December 29, 1953, in New Orleans to a loving mother who was abandoned by his father in his first year. When he was 6, his mother went to Los Angeles to build a better life, leaving behind what support network they had. But instead of finding affluence, they landed in the ghetto of South Central LA. Growing up, Williams endured a life of poverty, crime and drugs where exploitation by gangs was the norm.

“I grew to hate gangs,” he recalls. “When I was at home, I was a good boy, and when I wasn’t good my mother gave me a deserved beating. But she was the only one allowed to do that. Away from home, I couldn’t live by her laws or I wouldn’t be alive today. I had to live by the law of the street and I stood up for myself. I made it quite clear that if anyone wanted to beat me up, they’d better be prepared to come back and do it every day because I wouldn’t give in to anybody.”

When he was 17, he and a friend, Raymond Washington, decided to unite their associates in defence against the gangs who regularly attacked and robbed them. They called themselves the Cribs, because of their tender age, but this was soon mispronounced into the Crips.

<snip>

“We were proud of what we were doing — fighting gangs — and we believed we had right on our side,” he argues. “But of course, we morphed into what I hated the most — a gang. I was in a state of denial. It was years before I accepted that I had created what I hated the most.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1885637_1,00.html

[fortyfeetunder]

45. We are in need of a history lesson!!!

SB thanks for further enlightening the audience, good work! :thumbsup:

What I don't understand is why folks are getting wrapped around the axle about Tookie's history with the Crips, as if this was the first violent gang in the USA. We have had precedents from coast to coast.

The USA has had gang and gang violence throughout its existence. The Crips may have been notorious because of its ethnic origins, and its location.

If we are going to condemn gang violence, perhaps a little reading into US gang history would be helpful.

And on the side, see just how many US executed prisoners were also gang members.

[formernaderite]

49. so just hold tookie partly responsible?

I truly do hate gangbangers of ALL sorts. I just don't see the redemptive aspects you do.

[Sapphire Blue]

50. Over 150,000 redemptive aspects...

Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has officially endorsed a Stan 'Tookie' Williams clemency campaign spearheaded by over 150,000 youth who claim the Nobel Peace Prize Nominee (set to be executed on Foxx's 38th birthday next month: Dec 13) has saved their lives with his nine anti-drug books and personal anti-gang mentoring over the past decade.

http://www.eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=23360

[nofurylike]

28. kick! please, everyone, write and call! fax a letter! thank you! eom

[nofurylike]

29. please call the governor: 916-445-2841 thank you! eom

[nofurylike]

30. please write the governor and fax it to him: 916-445-4633 ! thanks!! eom

[Drix]

32. Took Took Tookie........Goodbye

First of all I am anti death penalty. It can never be adminsistred fairly and is open to too many varibles such as shoddy police work, incompetent legal representation, etc. However, that does NOT translate into compassion for cold blooded murderers.

I want you all to take a momemt for the memory of:

Albert Lewis Owens

Tsai-Shen Yang

Yen-Yi Yang

Ye-Chen Lin

Can you imagine the last moments of their lives? From their perspective? The sheer horror of it! On your knees. Begging for life. Thinking about your life, all your hard work, the love you have for your family, and then taking a shot gun blast to the head or back over chump change.

I am stanchly anti death penalty but I'll be damned if you are going to see me wringing my hands over the fate of a quadruple murderer.

And as a person color I often wonder if well meaning liberals engage in the soft racism of low expectations. Case in point. Tookie Williams writing anti-gang books for children. Sounds like a good idea right? You"ll never need to buy one for your child but that's nice for Black folks to have that resource, right? Well, would you buy a children's book for your child on clown painting by John Wayne Gacy? How about, "Receipie's Children Love" by Jeffery Dahmer, or how about, "Where Babies Come From" by Charles Manson?

Sounds crazy doesn't it. Then why in hell would a children's book from a quadruple murderer about gang life make any more sense?

No I am not pro death penalty but I wouldn't have jumped between the street mob and Mussolini either.

[nofurylike]

34. please write, call, because you are against the death penalty, then.

thank you!


peace!

[Drix]

41. Tookie = Dead Man Walking

You are living in a dream world if you think uber the uber macho Repub Governator is going to give Tookie clemency. If Bill Clinton wouldn't grant clemency for some run of the mill death row inmate you know Tookie's Crips founding, multiple murder, killing spree chances are like slim and none.

And there is something you don't seem to understand. I am anti death penalty but I could care less what happens to Tookie Williams. I am only one person and there is a limit to how many causes I can support. Those at the top of the list are innocent victims. Murderers are at the bottom. So as long as there is an illegal war to stop, starving children, a little old lady that needs help crossing the street, or a cat in a tree somewhere I have something better to do than try to save the life of a man who shotguns a man in the face as he begs for his life or shotguns a mother in front of her husband and daughter before gunning them down as well.

Tookie has showed no remorse for his victims and has maintained his innocence. There has been no credible evidence showing he has been wrongfully accused or convicted. He is a dead man walking and he has only himself blame.

[Sapphire Blue]

42. QUESTION... IF he is innocent, should he not maintain his innocence???

There was physical evidence, but none of it pointed to Stan.

• Fingerprints were found at both crime scenes, but they were not Stan’s. These fingerprints have never been identified.

• A bloody boot print left near the victim at one of the crime scenes was not Stan’s. This boot print has never been identified.

• A shotgun shell found at that crime scene was said to be from a gun purchased by Stan five years earlier. But the gun was, in fact, found under the bed of two people – a husband and wife facing felony insurance fraud charges and who were also under investigation for murdering their own crime partner. This husband-and-wife crime team did not serve any prison time and their murder investigation was dropped after they testified that Stan “volunteered” a confession to them.

• The “star” witness at Stan’s trial – a white man and longtime felon who was placed in a nearby cell while Stan awaited trial and was years later discovered to have been a paid police informant – also testified that Stan “volunteered” a confession to him. But nearly 20 years after Stan’s trial it was discovered that a Los Angeles police officer had left a copy of the police murder file involving Stan’s case in this informant’s cell for overnight study. The next day the murder file was picked up by that same officer, and the informant informed the police that Stan had volunteered a confession to him. In return for this testimony, the informant – who himself was facing the death penalty for rape, murder and mutilation – was given a lesser sentence that allowed him the possibility of parole and freedom.

http://www.tookie.com/tookie_fact_sheet_10.18.05.pdf

[Drix]

47. Tookie is just an innocent victim???

Oh please. And John Gotti was a legitimate business man, right?

There is no credible evidence that Tookie is not guilty. He murdered those people in cold blood. He refuses to own up to it. Therefore he doesn't deserve clemency.

[Sapphire Blue]

48. Not what I said... don't twist my words to suit your agenda.

Yes there is credible evidence that casts doubt on Tookie's guilt. Regarding his guilt or innocence, only Tookie knows the truth, not you nor I... and certainly not the prisoner, a paid police informant, in another cell who was given the police file to prepare for his testimony regarding Tookie's 'confession', a prisoner guilty of rape, murder, and mutilation who was given a lesser sentence in exchange for his testimony against Tookie. That prisoner's testimony was surely not credible.

Who would own up to commiting a crime that they were not guilty of? Would you?

And your sarcasm isn't appreciated.

I wish you mercy.

[msanthrope]

40. Great Post--and exactly how I feel. n/t

[lonestarnot]

33. Damn just let me eat my hat! Never thought this freak would agree to shit

[nofurylike]

35. it's a step. it is extremely urgent we all write and call! please!

and please pass the word.

thank you, lonestarnot!


peace!

[lonestarnot]

39. absolutely!

[TahitiNut]

36. The last time a California governor granted clemency was 1967.

California is one of the states where the governor has the sole authority to grant clemency.

[nofurylike]

37. i wonder if any has ever received this many appeals. it's from all over

the world.

thank you for that info, TahitiNut!


peace!