Dec. 11
CALIFORNIA:
Calif. high court refuses Williams' stay
The state Supreme Court late Sunday refused to grant a stay of execution
for gang member and convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, meaning
Williams will be executed early Tuesday unless the governor grants
clemency or a last-ditch federal appeal succeeds.
Williams' supporters made another pitch to save his life earlier Sunday,
telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff that they had a new witness who
could help prove Williams' innocence.
"All we need now is time to investigate to make sure this story is real,"
said NAACP California President Alice Huffman. "We're hoping and praying
for clemency, but we're not going to leave any stone unturned."
The new witness's statements were sent to Schwarzenegger's office, where
the staff said the governor wouldn't announce his decision on the clemency
request before Monday.
Williams, 51, is scheduled for execution at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday for the
deaths of 4 people in 1979. He would be the 12th inmate executed by the
state since California reinstated the death penalty in 1977.
The state's high court ruled 6-0 against staying the execution, saying
Williams' last-minute appeal lacked merit and was untimely. Deputy
Attorney General Lisa Brault had implored the justices early Sunday to
dismiss his petition, writing that it "is without merit and is manifestly
designed for delay."
The justices earlier denied a defense request to reopen the case over
allegations that shoddy forensics linked a weapon used in three of the
1979 murders to a shotgun registered to Williams.
Williams founded Los Angeles' violent Crips street gang, but his
supporters say he has turned his life around and redeemed himself by
speaking out against violence and writing children's books on the evils of
gang life during his 24 years at San Quentin prison.
He was condemned for the murder of a man during a robbery in February 1979
and the slayings of a couple and their daughter at a South Los Angeles
motel the following month.
He denies committing the murders but has apologized for founding the
Crips, a gang prosecutors blamed for thousands of murders in Los Angeles
and beyond.
(source: Associated Press)
