Dec. 8
CALIFORNIA:
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA-----PRESS STATEMENT
AIUSA Urges Gov. Schwarzenegger to Give Equal Treatment to All Death
Penalty Cases and to Stay All Executions Until the Senate Commission
Finishes Its Work Gov.'s Meeting in Stanley Tookie Williams Case
Demonstrates Bias Inherent to Death Penalty
Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA,
today released the following statement regarding the impending execution
of Stanley Tookie Williams and the fact that the attention garnered by
this case has overshadowed pervasive, systemic problems with California's
administration of the death penalty:
Stanley Tookie Williams is only one of 648 people currently on death row
in California.
Amnesty International USA is calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to
demonstrate genuine leadership and to uphold his obligation to represent
all of the people of California equally, even those on death row. The only
way to achieve that goal is to halt all executions until the Senate
appointed Commission has had time to thoroughly complete its work. The
lives of potentially innocent people depend on it.
While it is our belief that justice and the death penalty can never be
reconciled, the intense focus on the Williams execution is further
evidence of the arbitrary nature and bias inherent to this irrevocably
broken system. Once Williams's case has been decided, will Clarence Ray
Allen and Michael Morales, who are scheduled to be executed in January and
February 2006, respectively, receive the same attention?
The notoriety surrounding Williams' pending execution has unintentionally
overshadowed the pervasive, systemic breakdowns plaguing the state's death
penalty. These errors have metastasized to the point that the state Senate
created the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice
and tasked it with the responsibility to "study the extent to which
California's criminal justice system has failed ... resulting in wrongful
execution or the wrongful conviction of innocent person[s]."
The mere existence of this Commission is an admission that there are
serious, fundamental problems with California's justice system and the
administration of the death penalty. In 2003, the Santa Clara Law Review
catalogued more than 80 of these flaws, including: the lack of proper
training for homicide detectives and lawyers; "serious" racial
disparities; the existence of a significant number of death row inmates
who have no lawyers to pursue evidence that might prove their innocence;
and the lack of safeguards common in other states' death penalty systems.
By solely focusing on Williams, the Governor and others are ignoring the
fact that the system under which Williams was convicted is so broken and
flawed that it calls into question his conviction as well those of Allen
and Morales.
For more information please visit: www.amnestyusa.org/abolish.
Contact: Edward Jackson 202-544-0200 x 302
(source: Amnesty International)
********************
Tookie's fate is the wrong debate
Whether Stanley Tookie Williams lives or dies is not my concern. He chose
the gangster life and now stands a good chance of reaping its rewards.
Actually, the criminal justice system probably prolonged his existence.
Had he not been in prison, Williams would likely be dead, a victim of the
power struggles that have consumed many of his gangbanging peers.
Killing him, though, is something else again. If the co-founder of the
Crips had met his end on the street, few would have blinked twice. But now
that the government proposes to do the deed, the liberal crowd has worked
itself into a frenzy. And that's not a bad thing.
Don't get me wrong; I like the idea of punishment. Letting evildoers run
amok terrorizes the law-abiding. But now that life without parole is a
universal fact, the shooting, electrocution or poisoning of criminals
subject to permanent custody has become an exceedingly burdensome
artifact.
One must be coldblooded to be unaffected by the idea of capital
punishment. No matter how tidy we try to make the act of killing, dropping
the hammer on someone strapped to a gurney is an inherently troubling
business. Executions also run counter to the principle that those in
government custody should come to no further harm.
We judiciously keep condemned prisoners alive for as long as it takes,
create massive paper trails and spend countless sums fighting appeals so
that at some point we might win the game and kill them. Along the way, a
few savvy inmates manage to achieve a degree of notoriety and public
support, causing survivors even more grief.
Speeding up the process is hardly a solution. Advances in DNA technology
confirm that innocent people have been convicted, with some condemned to
die. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 122 death row
inmates have been freed since 1973. In an imperfect system, in which the
accused are often too poor to mount an effective defense, it seems
inevitable that innocent people will occasionally be executed.
Among those who have apparently suffered this miserable fate was Texas
inmate Ruben Cantu, who a recent investigation by the Houston Chronicle
strongly indicates was wrongfully put to death in August 1993. Once we add
the risk of occasionally killing the wrong person to the costs of running
death rows, funding endless appeals and putting up with flak from
liberals, there better be a good reason to continue what many consider a
barbaric practice.
Perhaps the best argument is that only capital punishment can bring the
closure that victims and survivors of horrific crimes deserve. Maybe so,
but 12 states, the District of Columbia and most of the civilized world
have willingly given it up.
With few exceptions, capital punishment seems to be a characteristic of
totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, among them such happy places as
Cuba, Belarus and Libya. European democracies have outlawed executions, as
has most of South America (a few countries make exceptions for war
crimes). Even Russia, which during the Soviet era embraced shooting people
in the back of the head as the ultimate measure of social control, stopped
executions in 1999.
I recently spent a week consulting with police in Ukraine. This is not a
place that is soft on crime. Still, Ukraine abolished the death penalty in
1999. One month before Williams became an international celebrity, my
hosts wanted to know why the world's leading democracy continued to put
people to death. I told them that although a majority of Americans support
the death penalty, an increasing number have come to believe that more
killing is not the answer.
Now that Williams' future is in the governor's hands, let him base his
decision on what's best for California, not for a has-been gangster. And
however long Williams lives, let him and his misguided cheering section
shut up.
(source: Commentary, JAY WACHTEL, a retired federal law enforcement
officer, is a lecturer in the politics, administration and justice
division at Cal State Fullerton; Los Angeles Times)
********************
Oldest Calif death row inmate seeks execution stay
Lawyers for Clarence Ray Allen, the oldest man on California's death row,
asked a federal judge here late Wednesday to block his scheduled Jan. 17
execution.
Allen, 75, recently suffered a heart attack, is blind, has diabetes and
frequently uses a wheelchair. His attorneys in a lawsuit say poor medical
care from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is
hampering Allen from assisting them in preparing a clemency petition,
which is due to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by Dec. 13.
His attorneys say Allen is brain damaged, but his poor health condition
and lack of medical care is hampering his attorneys and doctors from
properly diagnosing him. The lawsuit seeks to block the execution.
"Knowing that Mr. Allen is facing an imminent execution date, after Mr.
Allen's heart attack, defendants simply patched up Mr. Allen enough to
execute him and have denied him the medical care to which he is entitled,"
attorney Annette Carnegie wrote.
The lawsuit against the prison department alleges that since Allen's heart
attack in September, he has been denied proper medications or they have
been administered sporadically, and he has not been provided bypass
surgery as recommended.
The state Attorney General's office, which defends the Corrections
Department, declined to comment late Wednesday, saying it had not yet seen
the lawsuit.
Allen was sentenced to death for hiring a hit man who murdered three
people at a Fresno market. Allen, who was already in prison for murder,
had the trio killed because he feared their testimony would hurt his
chances of prevailing on appeal.
The convicted hit man, Billy Ray Hamilton, also is on death row.
Prosecutors said Hamilton was following Allen's orders when he killed
Bryon Schletewitz, Douglas Scott White and Josephine Rocha in 1980.
The case is Allen v. Hickman, 05-5051.
****************
Clemency Rarely Granted To Death Row Inmates
Legal experts say politics and history will not be on Stanley Tookie
Williams' side Thursday when the convicted killer asks Governor Arnold
Schwarzeneggerto spare his life.
Except for Illinois Governor George Ryan's 2003 decision to clear out
death row in his final hours in office, clemency is a gubernatorial option
rarely exercised in today's tough-on-crime climate.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, excluding the 167
Illinois inmates whose death sentences were commuted in 2003, only 63
lives have been spared since 1976.
The last California governor to grant clemency was Ronald Reagan in 1967,
but the case was far different from Williams' situation and times have
changed dramatically since then.
The 51-year-old Williams is scheduled to die by injection just after
midnight Monday for gunning down 4 people at a convenience store and a
motel in 1979.
(source for both: Associated Press)
******************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild
Michael Avery, President, 617-335-5023
Heidi Boghosian, Exec. Dir., 212-679-5100, ext.11; Renee Sanchez,
Co-Chair, NLG United People of Color Caucus, 415-238-0349
National Lawyers Guild Urges Clemency for Stan "Tookie" Williams
The National Lawyers Guild exhorts California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Stan "Tookie" Williams, reformed gang
leader, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and acclaimed author, currently
scheduled to be executed in the State of California at 12:01AM on Tuesday,
December 13, 2005.
The Guild recognizes that, as co-founder of the Crips, Williams caused
harm to communities throughout the nation. The Guild also recognizes that
as a prisoner on death row, Williams publicly denounced his former gang
lifestyle and sincerely apologized for the unnecessary death and
destruction caused by the Crips. Williams has had an enormous and positive
influence on American youth since then.
Williams has spent the past 20 years dedicating his life and devoting his
time and energy to helping others and saving lives. Williams has helped
countless young people avoid the pitfalls and dangers of the gang
lifestyle through his highly acclaimed children's book series educating
young people about the avoidance of gangs, crime and incarceration. He has
also worked effectively to reduce gang violence through his peace protocol
and Internet Project for Street Peace, an international peer-mentoring
program that has touched tens of thousands of youth and formed the basis
for successful gang truces in several cities. In 2004 Williams helped
broker peace agreements between Bloods and Crips in California and New
Jersey, ending one of the deadliest gang wars in the country.
NLG President Michael Avery stated, "The voice that Stan "Tookie" Williams
has developed in prison needs to be heard, not extinguished. This man
speaks passionately and persuasively to turn people from violence toward
peace. It is insane for society to silence someone who is struggling to
help save it."
The National Lawyers Guild condemns the racism endured by Williams during
his questionable murder trial, which unfolded against the backdrop of
anti-gang hysteria in the 1980's. We find it offensive that the prosecutor
likened Mr. Williams to "a Bengal tiger" and identified Williams' South
Central Los Angeles home as a "jungle." Stan "Tookie" Williams was found
guilty by an all-white jury after all prospective black jurors were
removed from the pool. In the sentencing phase of his trial, Williams was
forced to appear in shackles--a practice that the US Supreme Court ruled
unconstitutional earlier this year. Renee Sanchez, co-chair of The United
People of Color Caucus within the Lawyers Guild, stated, "The NLG is
actively working towards dismantling the institutional racism inherent in
the criminal justice system. We oppose the death penalty on many grounds
but in particular because of the glaringly disparate application of the
death penalty on racial grounds."
The NLG asserts that the death penalty in general, and the death sentence
of Stan "Tookie" Williams in particular, have a devastating effect on all
Americans and on communities of color in particular by perpetuating a
cycle of violence.
Founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association,
the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human
rights bar organization in the United States, with more than 200 chapters.
Over 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse
lawyers work together "in the service of the people, to the end that human
rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests," as
members of the National Lawyers Guild.
(source: Common Dreams)
*********************
State Press Release
Green Party of California asks the governor to spare life of Stanley
'Tookie' Williams at upcoming clemency hearing date
THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA www.cagreens.org
Contact(s): Susan King 415.823-5524 [email protected] Pat Driscoll
916.320-6430 [email protected] Beth Moore Haines 530.277-0610
[email protected]
As the only major political party opposed to the death penalty, the Green
Party of California - in a letter hand-delivered to Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger today - asked the state's chief executive to spare the life
of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, now scheduled to be executed Dec. 13.
The GPCA, in its letter, thanked Gov. Schwarzenegger for scheduling a Dec.
8 clemency hearing to "review the death penalty case," and requested the
governor consider "the importance of the life of Stanley 'Tookie'
Williams, the negative social and economic impact of the death penalty,
and spare Mr. Williams' life."
"The Green Party rejects the notion of capital punishment as a viable
crime deterrent, and we urge you to grant clemency in this case," said the
letter, which was also e-mailed and sent by facsimile to the governor.
"The campaign to save Stan Williams is particularly urgent, and the Green
Party platform is clear on this issue: the death penalty is wrong, under
any circumstances," said Susan King, a GPCA spokesperson. "We know
innocent people have been executed. The death penalty does not deter
crime, and has disproportionately affected the poor and people-of-color."
The Greens noted that, among other issues in Mr. Williams' case, there is
compelling evidence that racism was a major contributing factor to his
conviction. The prosecutor was able to secure a conviction by effectively
barring all African mericans from the jury.
Mr. Williams has become a leader in speaking out against gangs and
violence, and written nine childrens books about the dangers of gang life
which have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people all
over the world. He has developed a Protocol for Street Peace which has
been used by rival gangs around the country and the world to broker gang
truces. In recognition of his work, Stanley Williams has been nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize 5 times and has been nominated for the Nobel
Prize for Literature 4 times.
Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037
Email: [email protected] 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN
(source: The Green Party)
*******************
Death Row Inmate, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams Tells his Story
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, cofounder of the notorious Crips gang, has been
living on death row since 1981 and his death sentence, by lethal
injection, is scheduled to take place on December 13, 2005. It is yet to
be decided whether California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will grant
Williams clemency -- a closed hearing is scheduled for December 8th.
Williams tells his story in LIFE IN PRISON, a book aimed at children ages
eight to twelve, in an effort to discourage kids from joining gangs and
slipping into the life of crime and violence.
"The true stories I've written in this book are my living nightmares. My
greatest hope is that the lessons these stories offer will help [kids]
make better choices than I did," states Stanley "Tookie" Williams.
Since his incarceration in 1981, Williams has dedicated his life to ending
gang warfare, an endeavor that has earned him a 2001 Nobel Peace Prize
nomination. In LIFE IN PRISON, Williams speaks out about the brutal
reality of prison life in a blunt, riveting account of day-to-day life
behind bars, from the humiliation of strip searches to being locked in
solitary confinement. Here is a look at death row from the inside -- a
frank challenge to adolescent readers to educate themselves, make
intelligent decisions, and above all, not to follow in Williams's
footsteps.
About Chronicle Books: One of the most admired and respected publishing
companies in the U.S., Chronicle Books was founded in 1966 and over the
years has developed a reputation for award-winning, innovative books.
Recently recognized as one of the 50 best small companies to work for in
the U.S. (and the only independent publisher to receive this award), the
company continues to challenge conventional publishing wisdom, setting
trends in both subject and format, maintaining a list that includes
illustrated titles in design, art, architecture, photography, food,
lifestyle and pop culture, as well as much-admired books for children and
ancillary products through its gift division. Chronicle Books' objective
is to create and distribute exceptional publishing that's instantly
recognizable for its spirit, creativity, and value. For more information
about Chronicle Books, visit http://www.chroniclebooks.com.
LIFE IN PRISON----by Stanley "Tookie" Williams
ISBN: 1-58717-094-9, Price: $4.95 PB
Ages 8-12
Contact: Cathleen Schmidt
Phone: 415-537-4252 (fax 4415)
E-mail: [email protected]
Order Information: 800-722-6657
http://www.chroniclekids.com
(source: Chronicle Books----Web Site: http://www.chroniclebooks.com
(source: PRNewswire)
********************
SAN MATEO CO. OFFICIALS CHIME IN ON WILLIAMS EXECUTION
With the execution of convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams slated to
take place after midnight Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected
to meet with Williams' defense team and Los Angeles County prosecutors at
a closed clemency hearing on Thursday.
The scheduled execution of Williams, if nothing else, has thrust the topic
of capital punishment into the spotlight, and drawn varied opinions
regarding California's death penalty from people throughout the Bay Area.
The most recent execution took place in January, when Donald Beardslee was
put to death for the 1981 murder of a San Mateo County woman.
According to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve
Wagstaffe, Beardslee's bid for clemency was handled quite differently than
that of Williams.
Wagstaffe said a state parole board, rather than the governor, held the
clemency hearing, and ultimately decided to reject Beardslee's request.
A private clemency hearing led by the governor is an "interesting
approach," Wagstaffe said.
"Having tried death penalty cases as a prosecutor I know what it takes to
get a jury to return a verdict of death," Wagstaffe said. "I'm convinced
that if there were a flaw in the case it would have been found" by the
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which is, "prone to find error," he
said.
Because of such hidden flaws, in November, Assembly Bill 1121, co-authored
by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, was backed by the San Mateo
County Board of Supervisors at one of its board meetings.
The bill was created to "ensure that no innocent person is ever executed
in the state, and that the death penalty is not applied in an unjust and
arbitrary manner," according to the bill.
Spearheading the Board of Supervisors' discussion of the moratorium was
Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, who said it was the concerns of county
residents that prompted her to take a look at the possibility of a
moratorium.
"This was one issue that we hadn't really considered until a resident came
to us," Jacobs Gibson said.
If passed, the bill could go into effect in January 2007, and would impose
a two-year suspension on all death penalty cases, allowing the California
Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice to further consider the
death penalty as a whole, according to the bill.
In contrast, Wagstaffe said he does not back the proposed moratorium,
because every resource is made available to both prosecutors and defense
attorneys in the state to try a case fairly.
"The system that existed in 1979 (the year Williams was arrested) is the
same as today's," Wagstaffe said. "The law hasn't changed."
In the Bay Area, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin and Alameda counties,
along with the cities of Salinas, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Oakland, East
Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Sebastopol and Berkeley have passed moratorium
resolutions already.
"This isn't about people saying I'm for the death penalty or I'm against
the death penalty," Jacobs Gibson said.
According to Koretz, with more than 600 inmates currently on death row in
California, the bill looks to reduce the chance that a person who is
innocent is executed.
"Basically, my concern about the death penalty is the accuracy of it more
than anything else," Koretz said. "There is nothing more horrifying then
the state committing what in essence is the murder of an innocent person."
Koretz said the bill works to exhaust every effort in making sure if
someone is on death row that they are guilty of the crime they are accused
of committing.
Evidence surrounding Williams' case has been described by many as being
shoddy and circumstantial, but Wagstaffe said those are "Pollyannaish
statements" that have no factual basis.
"The law in all 50 states says circumstantial evidence has much more value
than direct evidence," Wagstaffe said.
In January 2003, Illinois Gov. George Ryan granted clemency to all of the
state's death row prisoners, putting them in prison for life without the
possibility of parole after finding glitches in the legal system.
Adding more fuel to the fire was Virginia Gov. Mark Warner who, on Nov.
29, granted clemency to 42-year-old convicted killer Robin Lovitt.
Lovitt would have been the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since
capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1977.
"The system in California has so many checks and balances to it,"
Wagstaffe said. Unlike Illinois and other states California "has not been
shown to have any flaws."
As for now, Williams remains behind bars at the San Quentin State Prison
meeting with friends, family members and his defense team, according to
prison Sgt. Eric Messick.
"We're still in normal operations here," Messick said. "On Monday we'll go
into lockdown mode, which is typical of any execution."
As for the possibility of an increased number of protesters at the prison
Monday, Messick said, "We don't have any clear intelligence to indicate
there's going to be more people present."
According to a spokesman from Gov. Schwarzenegger's office, an
announcement on the governor's clemency decision could be released as
early as Friday.
(source: CBS 5 News)
***************
Tookie's Inhumanity----An argument for sparing a cold-blooded killer
This week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will decide whether the convicted
murderer and co-founder of the Crips gang, Stanley "Tookie" Williams,
lives or dies. But that's all that should be decided. Not whether Williams
has been redeemed. Merely, will he be executed on December 13?
I'm a death penalty abolitionist and therefore believe, deeply, that
capital punishment is wrong; that it is barbaric, that it belittles all of
us, whether or not its victims are innocent or guilty as charged.
The celebrity campaign championing Williams, I suppose, is a tactical
necessity to draw attention to his case. When Schwarzenegger holds the
first California clemency hearing since 1992 this week to decide his fate,
the governor, after all, will be judging Williams, not the overall
immorality of capital punishment.
And while I believe Williams (and everyone else on death row) should not
be put to death, I find myself extremely uncomfortable with any notion
that Williams has been redeemed. There can be no redemption for someone
like Williams. There can only be contrition. Only a commutation of
sentence. Not elevation to sainthood.
When a convicted killer or his supporters claim "rehabilitation" I think
it becomes fair game to see what the starting point is of their personal
journey. How much do they have to make up for? That's not to say
individuals can't or shouldn't be rehabilitated nor that we shouldn't
applaud them when they do undergo some change.
In Williams' case, he starts out in a very deep and dark hole. His 4
victims were horribly massacred. No court in the land, including the
liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has seen enough exculpatory evidence
to overturn his conviction.
Nor does Williams deny his central role in organizing our own local Murder
Inc., the Crips. I accept at face value his claims to rehabilitation. I
know he has written children's books; that he has advocated gang truces;
that he has renounced violence; that some Swiss professor, somehow,
nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Great. In my ledger books, that might - I repeat, might - balance out the
wholesale evil that Williams has wrought earlier in life. Ask me what I
feel about him, and if in a generous mood, I would stay coldly and
begrudgingly neutral. Ask me to celebrate him, however, and Im likely to
go the other way. While his sentence stems from the murder of 4
individuals, any judgment of Tookie Williams, the man, must also weigh the
terminated lives of literally hundreds of poor, black youth who had no
trials, no appeals and no defense campaigns before they were summarily
executed by the Crips' shooters.
The larger question, as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson put it
earlier this week, is how do we view Williams' case against the larger
backdrop of Americas brimming death row? Robinson, as I, repudiates
capital punishment but adds, "it can't be right to save Williams just
because hes a famous desperado (or former desperado) with famous friends,
and then blithely go back to snuffing out the lives of other criminals who
lack his talent for public relations."
More than 3,000 people currently sit on death row, slowly awaiting
execution. About one of five are in California. Blacks and whites have
been the victims of murder in almost equal numbers, but 80 % of those
executed since 1977 were convicted of murders of white people. And more
than 40 % of those awaiting execution are blacks.
The most shocking statistic in this stew is that a full 1/3 or more of
death-row prisoners dont have legal representation. It's a fair assumption
that most of the condemned are, indeed, guilty. Many are neither
remorseful nor rehabilitated. Except for the ubiquitous Mumia Abu-Jamal
and now Tookie Williams, none of them have the notable and the famous
lobbying passionately for their lives. They remain as anonymous and as
forgotten as their victims - including Williams victims.
All those inmates deserve commutation as much as Williams. Its my sincere
hope that Governor Schwarzenegger, for whatever reasons he might have in
his head, will do the right thing and grant clemency. Then we all better
sit down and figure out how we, once and for all, do away with this
barbaric device of the death penalty without having to lionize those who,
in the end, richly deserve a life behind bars without parole.
(source: Column, Marc Cooper, LA Weekly)
******************
30 minutes to sway governor on clemency ----Williams' lawyers argue today
that he's too valuable to kill
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be asked officially today to set aside the
violent past of Stanley Tookie Williams and spare the life of the
gangster-turned-peacemaker, a decision that would dramatically redefine
the idea of clemency in recent American history.
Williams' lawyers are scheduled to meet with Schwarzenegger behind closed
doors for 30 minutes this morning to try to persuade the governor to save
their client. Prosecutors will have the same amount of time to argue that
Williams -- convicted of four 1979 murders -- should be executed at 12:01
a.m. Tuesday.
Schwarzenegger, amid a swirl of national news questioning the death
penalty, his own political woes and a drumbeat of support portraying
Williams as a key "weapon in the fight to keep young people out of
gangs,'' as the head of the NAACP put it this week, has few formal
guideposts to follow as he determines Williams' fate.
There is no clemency playbook for California governors, who are granted
sole authority, and great leeway, to commute a death sentence.
And in deliberating on Williams' case, Schwarzenegger is dealing with one
of the most high-profile death row inmates in the country, who is asking
the governor to reach a conclusion that runs against the current political
climate: that Williams' anti-gang activism, not his guilt or innocence or
issues surrounding his trial, is the key reason to halt a scheduled lethal
injection.
"There is no DNA in this case," Jonathan Harris, one of Williams'
attorneys, noted Wednesday.
The decision is a "heavy weight" on Schwarzenegger, said Margita Thompson,
his press secretary, and "one of the most somber and serious issues the
governor faces."
It's unclear when the governor might issue his determination. Thompson
said it would not come today and could be as late as Monday.
Williams would be the 12th condemned inmate put to death in California
since 1978, when the death penalty was reinstated. In that period, 48
other Death Row inmates have died of natural causes, suicide or other
reasons, such as a drug overdose.
Schwarzenegger's predecessors, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and Democratic
Gov. Gray Davis, handled clemency cases differently.
Schwarzenegger counts Wilson as a confidant and has several former Wilson
aides on his staff. The private hearing he will hold today is similar to
hearings that Wilson convened in 2 of the 5 clemency requests he faced.
Wilson and Davis oversaw 5 clemency hearings each, and both denied every
request.
Wilson met face to face with lawyers to discuss clemency for Robert Alton
Harris, who in 1992 became the 1st inmate executed since the death penalty
returned to the state, and for Thomas Thompson, executed in 1998, whose
lawyers said Thompson's accomplice had exonerated Thompson in testimony
after Thompson's trial.
Wilson, who was a lawyer, spent hours reading case files and "mastered the
factual record" of each case before making his decision, said Eric George,
an attorney who worked for Wilson on 2 clemency cases.
Davis did not meet privately with attorneys, instead ordering the state's
Board of Prison Terms to hold a hearing regarding the clemency plea and
make a recommendation to him.
Davis was famously tough on crime -- he was sued in 2002 by lawyers for
condemned inmate Stephen Anderson, who argued that Lt. Gov. Cruz
Bustamante, not Davis, should determine Anderson's case because Davis'
record showed he was biased against the idea of clemency. Anderson was
executed in 2002.
But speaking Wednesday with reporters at the unveiling of his official
portrait in the Capitol, Davis said he came close to granting clemency for
Manuel Babbitt, a Vietnam veteran who argued that he was suffering from
war-related mental health problems when he killed a Sacramento woman.
"Then I said to myself, 'If I grant clemency on that basis, I'd have to
say to anyone who was in a war that you're not responsible for your
actions when you get back into society, and I was not prepared to do
that,'" said Davis, also a Vietnam veteran.
Most condemned inmates, in arguing for clemency, note that they have
changed while behind bars and make redemption at least a small part of
their case. Wilson reviewed Jaturun Siripongs' many paintings, for
example, and lawyers for Anderson -- who wrote a play in prison that was
produced off-Broadway -- sent Davis several samples of his poetry.
Williams' lawyers and supporters, however, argue that their client's case
for rehabilitation is far more substantial.
The author of eight children's books warning against the dangers of gangs
and two autobiographies depicting his life as the co-founder of the Crips
street gang and his life behind bars, Williams contends he is more
valuable to society alive than dead.
Traveling in the state this week, Bruce Gordon, the new president of the
NAACP, said his group and Williams have agreed to form a partnership to
work on anti-gang initiatives.
Gordon, who recently met with Williams in San Quentin, said keeping
Williams alive -- and behind bars with a sentence of life without parole
-- "would save the lives of others."
And in a conference call with reporters Wednesday that illustrated their
strategy for today's hearing, Peter Fleming Jr., one of Williams'
attorneys, said the question he will ask Schwarzenegger is "why kill this
resource?"
Fleming read from a 2000 opinion article that then-citizen Schwarzenegger
wrote in the Los Angeles Times promoting the Inner City Games, an
organization he founded to help get minority and poor children involved in
sports.
Schwarzenegger wrote, "In the inner cities, children don't even dare to
dream," Fleming said, arguing that Williams provides hope for the same
kids the governor was trying to help.
But history and politics are against Williams.
Clemency based on redemption is "a vanishing species," according to Frank
Zimring, a UC Berkeley criminologist. Virtually all clemency cases granted
across the country by governors recently have been based on questions of
unfair trials or innocence.
In Williams' case, "there is a very high body count to overcome," noted
Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the pro-death penalty Criminal Justice
Legal Foundation. "The murders of 4 people is a pretty difficult
aggravating factor."
And with Schwarzenegger facing an erosion of support from moderate voters
upset over his special election and his conservative base outraged over
the recent hiring of a longtime Democratic operative to be his chief of
staff, political insiders note that this might be the wrong time
politically to grant clemency.
"That would be one more move away from his base," noted Mike Spence, head
of the California Republican Assembly, a conservative group that is
sponsoring an online petition urging Schwarzenegger to fire Susan Kennedy,
the former Davis administration insider he hired last week.
Schwarzenegger's decision comes amid renewed controversy over the death
penalty, however.
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who supports the death penalty, granted
clemency last week to an inmate convicted of killing someone with a pair
of scissors because a court administrator threw away DNA evidence. Warner
concluded he could not definitively determine whether Robin Lovitt was
guilty.
And a Texas lawmaker called last week for reopening a case against a man
executed in 1993 after the 2 key witnesses in a robbery-turned-murder
changed their stories.
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Sen. Gloria
Romero, D-Los Angeles, have written to Schwarzenegger urging him to
commute Williams' sentence because they are concerned about racial
inequity in the state's judicial system.
Noting the unusually large number of African Americans and poor people on
Death Row, Perata said he has "lost confidence in California's death
penalty as an instrument of justice." A Senate-appointed commission is
studying the application of the death penalty in the state and is expected
to report its findings by 2007.
Thompson and other administration officials insist Schwarzenegger will not
consider politics or the national climate when determining Williams' fate.
The governor instead will listen to the lawyers' arguments and then
decide.
Death penalty opponents say clemency for Williams would be a major
milestone in their efforts to sway public opinion against capital
punishment.
More than claims of innocence or fairness, Schwarzenegger faces a critical
test in society's feelings about crime and punishment, said Dianne
Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty.
"The issue Gov. Schwarzenegger faces is different than what many of the
other governors have faced, and in a way it goes much more to the heart of
the death penalty argument," she said. "The question is what happens when
people make the changes we say we want them to while in prison: What do we
do with the death penalty then?"
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
***************
Suspend executions -- for now
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should not grant clemency to death row inmate
Stanley Tookie Williams.
Nor should he deny it.
The governor should shelve the clemency hearing scheduled for today. He
should call a press conference instead. He should say that in listening to
the debate, he has come to understand that the challenge before him is not
to parse the singular circumstances of one man's life. It is to tackle the
much larger and more relevant issue that has been pushed to the surface by
the Tookie Williams case: the public's conflicted feelings and growing
questions about the death penalty itself.
Then Schwarzenegger should announce a moratorium on all executions in
California, following in the footsteps of another law-and-order Republican
governor, former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois.
This not only is the thoughtful, prudent course of action, given what we
know now about flaws in the judicial system, but it has the added
advantage of turning a radioactive situation for Schwarzenegger into a
defining moment. He can stake his claim as a bold, courageous leader
without, in actuality, taking much of a political risk: Most Californians
favor a moratorium.
In a little-noticed 2001 Field Poll, 73 percent of the state's population
supported then-Gov. Gray Davis halting all executions until a study of the
death penalty's fairness could be carried out.
73 %.
That means even those who support the death penalty -- who compose a clear
majority in California and across the nation -- are rightly concerned
about making sure it is administered in a way that is as mistake-free and
unbiased as humanly possible. We have seen in recent years 119 men,
according to one count, freed from death row after modern forensics
exonerated them. We have seen instances of prosecutorial error and
misconduct. We know the disproportionate number of African Americans on
death row raises serious questions about the impact of race and poverty in
sentencing.
Given all that, what reasonable person would oppose stepping back and
scrutinizing the system?
It seems especially important for California to take this step because it
has more men and women on death row -- 648 -- than any state in the
country. We already know our system is not perfect. 6 men during the last
25 years have been exonerated of the crimes that landed them on
California's death row.
In declaring a moratorium now, Schwarzenegger can make the wise and
compelling point that California does not want to wait until an innocent
man is executed before it launches a thorough review of its judicial
process.
Indeed, such a review is already under way. The state Senate in 2004
formed the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice,
which will try to determine how and why the system has failed in the past
and recommend safeguards for the future. Its findings are due at the end
of 2007. Doesn't it make sense to suspend executions until the commission
finishes its work? Two members of the Assembly have asked the same
question. Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, and Sally Lieber, D-Mountain
View, announced in June they were introducing a bill (AB 1121) that would
halt executions until January 2009, a year after the commission's report
is completed. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly's Public
Safety Committee January 20.
11 cities and 4 counties -- most of them in the Bay Area -- are pushing
for a moratorium, passing resolutions calling on the governor to do so:
the counties of San Francisco, Marin, Alameda and Santa Clara, and the
cities of Menlo Park, Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Monica, Salinas, Santa
Cruz, East Palo Alto, Sebastopol, Portola Valley, Palo Alto and West
Hollywood.
Ryan, the former Illinois governor, who supported capital punishment his
entire life, was jolted into re-examining everything he believed in after
a mentally retarded inmate scheduled for execution was cleared when
another man confessed. That was followed by revelations in the Chicago
Tribune that more than one-third of all 285 Illinois capital convictions
between 1977 and 1999 had been reversed because of "fundamental error."
"A lot of people are like me, I think," Ryan told The Nation magazine.
"The death penalty was a fact of life. But as people become more and more
aware of the unfairness, they become less enthusiastic. ... I question the
entire system and the people connected with it."
Schwarzenegger should seize the opportunity of the Tookie Williams case to
allow Californians time to revisit a 1978 statute through 2005 knowledge
and sensibilities. The time is overdue for a thoughtful discussion about
how the death penalty is imposed, what impact it has, and whether life in
prison without the possibility of parole is a better alternative socially,
judicially and financially.
I personally oppose the death penalty, and, like former Gov. Ryan, I don't
see how we can ever be assured of absolute fairness and accuracy. But if
the majority of us believes capital punishment is good government and good
public policy, then the least we can do is scrutinize how we administer
it, to be as certain as possible we are punishing injustice and not
committing it.
(source: Commentary, Joan Ryan, San Francisco Chroncle)
***********************
Williams Case a Question of Mercy----With legal claims rejected, the
killer's redemption may be key in clemency decision.
If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spares Stanley Tookie Williams from his
scheduled execution at San Quentin State Prison next week, he will almost
certainly be forced to anchor his decision in a rationale that has
virtually disappeared from the modern clemency process: mercy.
Nationwide over the last 30 years, governors commuting death sentences
have almost never cited a condemned man's redemption as a reason to save
his life. Rather, they typically act because of doubts about guilt,
questions surrounding trial fairness, concerns about mental illness or
worries that capital punishment disproportionately targets racial
minorities.
In the Williams case, legal claims have been rejected repeatedly by
courts. His bid for clemency is rooted entirely in what attorneys describe
as his metamorphosis behind bars, from the co-founder of the murderous
Crips street gang to a peacemaker who writes children's books and preaches
nonviolence.
Whether that transformation persuades Schwarzenegger to cancel Williams'
death by lethal injection remains to be seen. The governor has not
revealed details of his thinking on Williams, and aides would only say
that he has been in daily contact with his legal team leading up to
today's closed clemency hearing in the Capitol.
Although the Republican governor supports the death penalty, an advisor
has said that Schwarzenegger would be open to clemency in the right case.
And Schwarzenegger's views on crime and punishment are more nuanced than
those of his two predecessors - who presided over 10 executions between
them - and he has said the decision in the Williams case is one that he
dreads.
In deciding the fate of two other condemned men, the governor rejected
clemency, finding no evidence compelling him to act. In January, after he
denied clemency for triple murderer Donald Beardslee and allowed the
execution to proceed, Schwarzenegger told journalists in his native
Austria that the episode marked "the hardest day" of his life.
The law, meanwhile, offers little guidance. There are no rules when it
comes to executive commutations, and previous governors characterize
clemency decisions as among the most challenging and emotional they faced
in office. The public clamor only exacerbates the pressure.
"Clemency is an awesome responsibility," said former Gov. Gray Davis, a
Democrat who rejected bids from five men who were executed. While
Schwarzenegger will clearly be "aware that the world is watching," Davis
said, the task is "a very solitary decision, a matter between the governor
and his conscience."
Former Gov. Pete Wilson agreed that "you don't take lightly denying life
to anyone." On the other hand, he said, Californians have "expressed their
approval at the ballot box of imposing the death penalty, and so I think
anyone seeking clemency has a very difficult standard to meet."
On Wednesday, lawyers for Williams summarized the line of argument they
would be making at today's hearing, which the governor will attend, and
said they would be presenting Schwarzenegger with a letter from Williams.
They declined to reveal its contents.
Beginning at 10 a.m. today, the governor will hear the presentation from
Williams' attorneys and one from the Los Angeles County district
attorney's office. Schwarzenegger's aides said he would make no comment,
and they could not predict when he might make his decision.
Public support for Williams' clemency, meanwhile, has been intense among
some Hollywood celebrities, world famous clergymen and teachers who use
his books. Williams' lawyers say tens of thousands of people have written
letters and e-mails, urging that their client be allowed to live. And
during the past week, supporters have bought full-page advertisements in
newspapers, including The Times, to push for clemency.
Williams' allies highlight his portfolio of accomplishment while
incarcerated, which includes nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and
ongoing efforts to discourage youths from joining gangs. Allowing Williams
to live out his life in prison, they say, will preserve him as a force for
good in society while validating the possibility of redemption in today's
criminal justice system.
"Tookie Williams is the ideal candidate for clemency because his time on
death row has dramatically reinforced the notion that each of us is more
than the worst thing we've ever done," said Bryan Stevenson, an acclaimed
death penalty appellate lawyer and professor at New York University Law
School.
Prosecutors and survivors of Williams' victims say his good works should
not carry the day. They say Williams remains a man who took 4 lives and
helped launch a gang war that has ravaged American cities.
Williams' pursuit of forgiveness rings hollow, they add, because he has
neither apologized to his victims nor agreed to participate in a
debriefing with law enforcement officials, a process in which gang
dropouts share what they know.
"He seeks redemption, but he won't even take responsibility for murders
committed by his own hand, to say nothing of the thousands to die in gang
wars he helped encourage," said Joshua Marquis, district attorney for
Clatsop County in Oregon and a nationally prominent supporter of the death
penalty.
Williams has said he will not apologize for crimes he denies committing,
and that to debrief officials would make him a snitch.
Schwarzenegger comes to the clemency decision after a year of sharp
political disappointment. Polls show his popularity sagging, and the
November special election he called ended in failure for the governor.
Analysts say commuting a convicted murderer's sentence now could be
politically perilous; Schwarzenegger would be the first California
governor to do so since Ronald Reagan spared the life of a brain-damaged
killer, Calvin Thomas, in 1967. Though support for the death penalty has
waned, about 2/3 of Californians continue to endorse it, polls show.
Aides say that Schwarzenegger will rely on 30-minute presentations by
attorneys at today's hearing, and on the guidance of his legal affairs
secretary, Andrea Hoch, and the man who previously held that post and
remains an advisor, Peter Siggins.
"This is a decision that transcends political considerations, and he looks
at it within a vacuum," said one senior administration official, who spoke
on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "There
is a life to consider and also the family of the victims to consider and
the weight of justice. In the long run, those things endure, rather than
any short-term political consequence."
The official also suggested that while a "mercy decision is not
precluded," Schwarzenegger laid out strict standards in his previous
decisions rejecting clemency.
Those cases involved Beardslee, who killed two Bay Area women in 1981, and
Kevin Cooper, who murdered four people in Chino Hills after escaping from
a California prison in 1983. Beardslee was executed in January, while
Cooper, whose clemency plea drew support from a prominent chorus of
Americans, including some in the movie business, was spared after an
appellate court ordered a lower court to consider new DNA tests.
In detailed statements, Schwarzenegger focused heavily on the facts of
those crimes and found the evidence of guilt overwhelming. With Beardslee,
he said he was unmoved by claims of mental impairment and his model
behavior in prison. With Cooper, he said that while the inmate's religious
conversion and mentoring of others were commendable, they did not
"diminish the cruelty and destruction" he had inflicted.
Despite those cases, attorneys for Williams see reason for hope in
Schwarzenegger's record on other criminal justice issues. Unlike his
predecessors, he has pushed rehabilitation in the state's massive
corrections department.
He also differs markedly from Davis and Wilson on granting parole to
eligible murderers. Since Schwarzenegger took office, his parole board has
judged 336 murderers rehabilitated and suitable for release. The governor
approved freedom for 99 of those. Davis permitted only eight such inmates
to go free during his 5-year term.
Supporters of clemency hope that Schwarzenegger's Austrian heritage may
play a role in the decision as well. Austrians are strongly against
capital punishment, and the governor has been criticized in his homeland
for permitting Beardslee to be put to death.
Just after that execution, a Green Party official pushed unsuccessfully
for national leaders to strip Schwarzenegger of his Austrian citizenship.
And in the southern city of Graz, near Schwarzenegger's birthplace, the
Greens have led a drive to rename Schwarzenegger Stadium, a 15,350-seat
soccer venue, because he supports the death penalty.
Schwarzenegger has suggested that growing up in such a culture left an
imprint. But during a January trip to Austria, he also said that as
governor of California, he was bound to enforce the state's laws.
"I did not have a choice, since I represent as governor a population which
is overwhelmingly for the death penalty," he told the newspaper Kronen
Zeitung.
Before the 1970s, governors in this country used their clemency power to
grant gifts of mercy - to those who had dramatically transformed
themselves in prison, for example - and to remedy a miscarriage of
justice. But commutations have become rare - and grants based on
redemption almost never occur.
"Most governors seem to have forgotten that clemency is an executive act
of mercy, not a quasi-judicial review," said Elisabeth Semel, who runs the
death penalty clinic at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.
Since 1976, 231 death row inmates have been granted clemency, while 1,001
individuals have been executed. Three governors account for 184 of the
commutations.
One was Illinois' outgoing Republican governor George Ryan, who in January
2003 granted clemency to every inmate on death row, saying the state's
capital punishment system was "haunted by the demon of error - error in
determining guilt, error in determining who among the guilty deserves to
die."
Georgia's governor granted clemency to a killer in 1977 because he felt
the man received a sentence that was disproportionate to that received by
his co-defendant.
A Kentucky governor spared the life of a killer after concluding that the
system had "perpetuated an injustice" by sentencing a man to death for a
murder committed at the age of 17. Other governors have said a death
sentence was inappropriate to the crime when a battered woman killed her
husband.
Occasionally, clemencies are spurred by unanticipated forces. Such was the
case in 1999, when Missouri's Democratic governor, Mel Carnahan, spared
the life of convicted triple murderer Darrell Mease in response to a plea
made by Pope John Paul II during a visit to the state.
Carnahan said he took the action out of "a deep and abiding respect for
the pontiff and all that he represents." He commuted only one other death
sentence during his tenure, while permitting 38 executions.
But a plea from the pope is no guarantee of mercy, as Karla Faye Tucker
found. Tucker, a born-again Christian who was the subject of a massive
clemency drive supported by Pat Robertson, was executed in Texas in 1998
despite pressure from Pope John Paul II - and her own telephone interview
on "Larry King Live."
In California this week, letters from legislators opposing and endorsing
the execution were delivered to Schwarzenegger's Capitol office. One came
from state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who visited Williams in
prison in October.
Romero asked the governor to show mercy, "like an Old Testament king with
a sword and the power to spare the life of one who kneels before him."
Williams says he has a link to the governor that few, if any, other
condemned men could claim. During the 1970s, Williams said in a book he
published last year, the two met when they were bodybuilders at Gold's Gym
in Santa Monica. Schwarzenegger was so impressed with Williams' physique,
the convict recounted, that he once remarked that Williams' biceps looked
like legs.
The governor has said he met many people during his immersion in the
bodybuilding culture and could not recall whether Williams was among them.
At San Quentin this week, a spokesman said Williams, using his narrow bunk
as a table, writes letters on a small typewriter and takes an occasional
jog around the fenced enclosure set aside for death row inmates.
But mostly, he spends these days talking with a stream of visitors - the
Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Jamie Foxx and others - reading briefs from his
lawyers inside his 41-square-foot cell, and waiting for an answer from
Sacramento.
*Death or life
Since the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the resumption of capital
punishment in 1976, California has carried out 11 death sentences and
commuted none. Ordinarily, clemency commutes a death sentence to life in
prison. States----Clemencies-----Executions Illinois* 172 12
Ohio 9 19
Virginia 7 94
Florida 6 60
Georgia 6 39
North Carolina 5 39
New Mexico 5 1
Indiana 3 16
Louisiana 2 27
Maryland 2 5
Missouri 2 66
Oklahoma 2 79
Texas 2 355
Alabama 1 34
Arkansas 1 27
Idaho 1 1
Kentucky 1 2
Montana 1 2
Nevada 1 11
Arizona 0 22
California 0 11
Colorado 0 1
Connecticut 0 1
Delaware 0 14
Mississippi 0 6
Nebraska 0 3
Oregon 0 2
Pennsylvania 0 3
South Carolina 0 35
Tennessee 0 1
Utah 0 6
Washington 0 4
* In 2003, former Gov. George Ryan granted clemency to all 167 inmates on
death row.
[source: Death Penalty Information Center]
(source: Los Angeles Times)
********************
Children's Books Can't Make Up for 4 Brutal Murders
The California Constitution gives a governor the power to commute a death
sentence on any "conditions the governor deems proper."
Well, almost. "He can't flip a coin," notes Nathan Barankin,
communications director for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. "He has to think it
through."
For any commutation - and there haven't been any on California's death row
for 38 years, since Gov. Ronald Reagan spared the life of a brain-damaged
child-killer - a governor must explain "the pertinent facts and reasons"
to the Legislature, which is powerless to block it.
"A governor's power is virtually limitless," Barankin says.
What this means, incidentally, is that there is no such thing as life in
prison "without possibility of parole." It's disingenuous to claim there
is. Sure, there's the sentence. But a governor can commute any sentence or
pardon anybody, anytime.
Well, again, not exactly. One little-known provision of the Constitution
states that a governor must obtain permission from the state Supreme Court
to "grant a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a
felony." That's what hung up Gov. Pat Brown in his failed and politically
debilitating attempt to save "Red Light Bandit" Caryl Chessman from the
gas chamber 45 years ago.
In the current case of Stanley Tookie Williams, there is no prior felony
conviction. So Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could cancel Williams' scheduled
execution Tuesday for any reason he "deems proper."
Conceivably that could include Tookie's writing of at least two children's
books for each cold-blooded murder he committed. Toss in some anti-gang
sermonizing - by this co-founder of the evil Crips - and a governor could
even call it redemption.
I'm not sure about Schwarzenegger, but it seems to me that redemption for
merciless murderers is a godly role, not an exercise for mortals. We
mortals adopt codes of societal conduct and establish punishments for
violators. For the most heinous killings - and Williams' murders certainly
qualify - Californians have decreed the death penalty.
Writing anti-gang children's books is wonderful, and it shows Williams'
capacity to understand right from wrong, and to lead a productive life.
God can take these good deeds into consideration. Problem for us is, he
didn't show these qualities before he brutally snuffed out the lives of
four innocent people, forever scarring 2 families. Now, 26 years later,
it's long past time for just punishment.
People who contend no state has a right to take a life just haven't been
paying attention, or have paid attention to history only selectively.
Rich defendants get off because they can afford better attorneys? So fix
the system. Make sure every accused murderer gets quality representation.
Death penalty opponents who point to innocent people being executed don't
point to California, you'll notice. Other states, yes. Not here.
"It's totally fine for individuals to be ambivalent or opposed to the
death penalty," Barankin says, "but it's totally dishonest for them to
suggest that we've come even close to executing someone who was innocent."
California has many safeguards - extraordinary appeals procedures,
experienced appellate defense attorneys and the liberal U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals. The process is so lengthy that by far the biggest cause
of death on death row is advanced age.
Since 1978, when California voters reinstated capital punishment, only 11
have been executed in San Quentin's death chamber. There currently are 649
condemned murderers stacked on the row. One more was added this week.
I'd be very surprised if Schwarzenegger commuted Williams' death sentence
after holding today's clemency hearing with prosecutors and defense
attorneys. He supports capital punishment and previously denied the
clemency requests of two other murderers.
He hasn't hinted one way or the other on Williams, however, say insiders.
And Schwarzenegger constantly has surprised us, not always with smart
moves. He has lurched from one extreme to another: for example, attacking
the Democrats' core constituency - labor - then recruiting a Democratic
political pro, Susan Kennedy, to be his chief of staff.
The consensus of political gurus I've talked to is that Schwarzenegger
would gain little by allowing Williams to be executed, because it's what
voters expect of a Republican governor. But if he granted clemency, that
would further enrage conservatives - on top of the Kennedy hiring - and
disappoint many other death penalty supporters, who remain a majority of
voters.
But there is only one question Schwarzenegger should be asking himself: Is
it iron-clad certain that Williams killed those people.
The governor shouldn't be asking about politics - and he hasn't and won't.
He shouldn't really care whether Williams co-founded the Crips. That's not
a capital offense. He shouldn't be swayed by some children's books.
They're long after the fact.
Did Williams, as the jury found and the Los Angeles County D.A.'s office
contends, shotgun to death, execution style, store clerk Albert Owens, the
father of 2 daughters? Did he a few days later use a 12-gauge to kill
motel owner Yen-I Yang; his wife, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang; and their daughter
Yu-Chin Yang Lin? Both times during cheap robberies.
Williams never has admitted the murders, but there isn't any real doubt
that he committed them. The killer's main argument for mercy, as expressed
through attorneys, is that he since has become "a messenger of hope, and
of the futility and waste of violence."
Too late for his victims, however. Sparing Williams just wouldn't seem
"proper."
(source: Los Angeles Times)
*****************
Letter for Clemency for Tookie Williams to the Governor of the State of
California
Dear Governor:
This is both a political and a personal letter. We met years ago when I
lived on Venice Beach so I know you to be a very personable and sensitive
human being.Thus, my appeal for clemency for Stan "Tookie" Williams is
based on a communication between two human beings as well as a political
argument against the death penalty.
In regard to both I oppose the death penalty. I oppose granting the State
the power or right to commit murder. No nation can be secure when the
State can decide when, how or who is to die by its arm. The human emotion
for revenge and for punishment as an act of vengeance is the driving force
for the utilization of the death penalty. It is all too understandable.
Too human.
The pain of that the survivors of victims experience; the impact on
society as a whole when someone murders another is manifestly negative.
That is as true for the individual who bludgeons our environment with such
an individual or mass act, as it is when the State antiseptically
eliminates the inmate in the death chamber.
But it is simply wrong to empower the arbitrary and bureaucratically
incompetent organ of government to act as might a enraged citizen. You
have said so throughout your political career regarding far less important
matters. I ask that you apply that same criteria to the matter of life and
death as you would taxes.
To empower the government with the right to kill one person for one
reason, allows the government the right to determine who lives and who
dies and for whatever reason. This arbitrariness is the method of
dictators. It is antithetical to democracy.
I know more about the death penalty and the men and women who reside on
death row than most.
In 1979 I was commissioned to do a study of death row inmates, those who
were granted clemency and their sentences change to life without
possibility and lived on the "yards" of various California prisons; those
who made the transition to civil life and were no repeaters.
The end result was that the death penalty had not viable positive,
deterrent impact either on the men studied or those predisposed to kill;
or those who spontaneously committed homicides.
Further, to the best of my knowledge, I am the only ex-California prisoner
to ever sit in the Green Room, in the chair used to execute Caryl Chessman
and Barbara Graham, and walk out alive.
The irony of that is that I was charged with the exact crime for which
Chessman was executed. I then served 7 years in the worst of California
prisons and jails in the 1960's.
During that period I rehabilitated myself and became an organizer of other
prisoners and saw the remarkable change that education and communal
empathy and identification can bring about among equals. I was eventually
paroled and discharged. My contributions to this society and to humankind
are varied and manifest. I believe for the better.
I also knew those black men - boys really who would become Crips and
Bloods. I was best friends with members of the Black Panthers. Which
raises the specter of poverty and racism that was pronounced in white
American during that period. Southern California was more like Mississippi
than its image as a progressive, post-war community. (Walter Mosley has
documented that environment more so than anyone - as well as Ellroy in LA
Confidential.)
There was a vacuum of leadership due to the decimation of the Panthers and
the execution of alternative African American peer leaders: Medgar Evers -
Malcolm X - Martin Luther King, not to mention the wholesale murder by the
police (during COINTELPRO) of youth leaders in the Panthers. Eventually,
the Panthers found themselves in violent confrontations with the police,
far more often the product of police agent provocateurs and agents and
irresponsible members than by calculated, criminal acts.
I will however remind you of Ron Karenga and his "black cultural"
organization US, the police sponsored terrorist group founded at UCLA,
that was directly responsible for the murder of Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter
the Black Panther involved in community organizing. This act in the late
1960's along with the police instigated raid on the Black Muslim Temple in
South LA emphasized the hopeless of community programs developed by the
Panthers and others in LA. The message to the youth of LA was simple:
there was no hope - the police and white people enemies or criminals
involved in the decimation of any progressive activities of black youth.
Into this void, in the ghettoes of Los Angeles and elsewhere, grew a youth
generation without positive direction - victimized by generations of
racism and familial disintegration that would become the environment in
which the Crips and the Bloods would thrive.
I make no apologies for their acts. We are all responsible.
Now your are responsible. You either allow the state form of murder to
take place for no greater social or human good, or you say no.
I ask that you say no and allow life to continue.
I respectfully request your consideration to this message. I know you are
inundated, but I hope there is a perspective here that will provide your
with a different vision of this life or death situation.
yours sincerely,
Michael O'McCarthy
(source: Indybay.org)
***************
Evidence Points to Frame-Up in Tookie Williams Case
[
Editor's Note: EDITOR'S NOTE: Focusing on Stanley "Tookie" Williams' good
works while on death row misses the inconsistencies, lack of physical
evidence and questionable stories spun by informants that ultimately
convicted him, says the writer, who calls for a death penalty moratorium.]
If Stanley Tookie Williams is executed on Tuesday, Dec. 13, poisoned to
death by the State of California, his fame will have doomed him. We may
well have killed an innocent man without even realizing it.
On the other hand, if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger grants clemency to
Williams because he has rehabilitated himself, his fame will have saved
him, and the crucial question of his innocence will simply fade away.
At a time when more and more Americans are turning against the death
penalty because of increasing evidence that innocent people have been
executed, we have allowed ourselves to be so bedazzled by the celebrity
hype surrounding the Tookie Williams case that one important truth has
been ignored: Stanley Williams may be innocent of the crimes for which he
was convicted.
Was Williams truly proven "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt"? A careful
reading of attorney Verna Wefald's 88-page appeal to the California
Supreme Court to reopen Williams' case strongly suggests that Tookie was
framed and railroaded in a trial riddled with inconsistencies,
contradictions, lack of physical evidence and false stories spun by a
parade of informers trying to save their own necks.
As a founder of the Crips gang, Williams was assumed to be guilty before
he was even charged with four murders. He was the Black Man Rampant, the
Black Bogeyman, the Bigger Thomas of South Central Los Angeles. Williams
was convicted by his notoriety, not by the evidence.
According to Wefald and federal courts that reviewed Williams' case,
Williams' 1981 trial for the murder of Albert Owens, a convenience store
clerk in Whittier, and Los Angeles motel owners Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shaic
Yang and their daughter, Yee Chen Lin was based on flimsy circumstantial
evidence; the fabricated testimony of five informants having "incentives
to lie in order to obtain leniency from the state...." (according to the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals); and the perjury of at least one police
officer.
Physical evidence such as fingerprints and a bloody boot-print could not
be traced to Williams.
Only one shotgun shell was found at the motel. It ostensibly came from a
shotgun purchased legally 5 years before by Williams, but the gun itself
was actually found under the bed of informants James Garrett and his wife,
Ester. The Browning shotgun shell was sold at only two local stores, one
of which, a Big Five, had been robbed of guns and ammunition by Garrett
the year before.
The Garretts were both being investigated for the murder of their crime
partner, Gregory Wilbon. This investigation was dropped, according to
Wefald, after they testified that Williams "volunteered" a confession to
them.
Deputy Gilbert Gwaltney perjured himself when he supported Garrett by
testifying that the informant had a sound alibi at the time his crime
partner Wilbon was murdered. Wilbon's body was so badly decomposed,
Williams' lawyers write, that it was impossible to establish a time of
death and thus impossible to establish an alibi.
Another informant also claimed that Williams had "volunteered" a
confession to him -- but only after a police officer had left the police
file on Williams overnight in the informant's cell for him to read before
he testified the next day, according to Wefald.
The prosecutor, who had already been censured twice by the California
Supreme Court for discriminatory behavior, threw 3 African-Americans off
the jury, leaving a majority-white jury with few or no blacks (at least 1
juror's racial identity is in dispute).
Wefald's appeal was turned down by the California Supreme Court on Nov. 30
by a 4-2 vote. This is not uncommon, especially in cases which do not
involve DNA evidence.
Every appeal to the California Supreme Court made by wrongfully convicted
prisoner Gloria Killean was routinely denied for 16 years, until a federal
court overturned her life sentence. And Thomas Goldstein filed repeated
appeals to the court for 24 years before being exonerated by a federal
court.
And the California Supreme Court's divided vote "indicates the seriousness
of the issues that were raised by the motion," Williams' attorney Jonathan
Harris said.
But the railroading never ceases. The moment the Dec. 13 execution date
was announced last month, authorities rushed Williams to the holding cell
next to the death chamber, three weeks before the usual holding period
begins.
Now the ultimate humiliation is being required of Tookie Williams. Like
the innocent women at the Salem witch trials, he is being told he should
confess in order to save his own life, a Catch-22 if ever there was one.
This he refuses to do. He says he will not compromise his dignity and
integrity, the most powerful and precious forces in his life today.
One of the most compelling arguments against the death penalty is that we
inevitably kill innocent people. Britain abolished capital punishment in
1965 after Timothy Evans, hanged for strangling his young daughter, was
later found to be innocent.
Now, new developments like DNA evidence are leading to the release of
significant numbers of innocent people from death rows and prisons across
the United States, and support for the death penalty is steadily
declining.
In 2000, the same year that Illinois Governor George Ryan declared a
moratorium on executions in his state, a California Field Poll showed that
73 % of Californians supported a similar moratorium. The number is
probably higher today.
Instead of spending hours agonizing over Tookie Williams' fate (and his
own political future), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should do the right
thing and suspend the executions of all 637 death row inmates immediately.
(source: Commentary, Pacific News -- PNS contributor Clive Leeman lives in
Ojai, Calif., and writes about human rights issues)
**********************
Notre Dame professor wants Noble prize for Williams
A Notre Dame de Namur professor nominated death-row inmate Stanley
"Tookie" Williams for the Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday, one day before
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to hear a clemency plea that could save
his life.
Williams, the founder of the notorious Crips street gang, was convicted in
1981 of four shotgun murders that took place in 1979. He is scheduled to
be executed Dec. 13 at 12:01 a.m.
Notre Dame philosophy professor Philip Gasper, an anti-death penalty
activist, said he nominated Williams because of his efforts since 1993 to
turn youth away from gangs after a 6-year stay in solitary confinement.
He has written nine childrens books about the dangers of gang life, some
of which are kept in San Mateo County school libraries. Gasper is among
500 professors in the country who have signed a petition asking for
clemency.
As a professor of philosophy at the Belmont university, Gasper is
recognized by the Nobel committee as a legitimate nominator.
The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office is opposing any clemency
grant, and is presenting its position at the hearing before the governor
today. The governors spokesman has said he will make his decision between
Dec. 9 and 12. Williams advocates have questioned the validity of his
trial, and Williams has maintained he is innocent.
(source: San Francisco Examiner)
