Convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the co-founder of the violent Crips gang who is on Death Row in California, is Hollyweird's current cause celebre. He is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 13 after 24 years of legal wrangling. The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to hold a clemency hearing Dec. 8.

Among the Save Tookie brigades: Snoop Dogg, Bianca Jagger, Jesse Jackson, Margaret Cho, Mike Farrell, Jason Alexander, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Noah Wyle.

I wrote about Williams' bleeding-heart worshipers back in 2000, when he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize:

San Quentin prison officials report that juvenile delinquents idolize Williams. His propaganda has been endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus. As part of an ongoing public relations campaign to soften his image while he ties up the courts with specious legal appeals, Williams has been profiled sympathetically by People magazine, Time, the Los Angeles Times, and the ethnic press. He even appeared on a TV special introduced by President Clinton. Barbara Becnel, a crusading journalist who "edits" Williams' writings, once gushed that if the death-row inmate had "been raised in Brentwood instead of South Central, he'd be head of the state Democratic party."

Williams' groupies would have us believe that their Nobel Peace Prize nominee is a helpless victim of his environment, addled by low self-esteem, forced to turn to violence by racist oppressors, and now apologetic "for the atrocities which I and others committed against our race through gang violence." Spare us the sob story. Here are the cold-blooded facts missing from Williams' Nobel Peace Prize application:

Williams was convicted of murdering four innocent bystanders with a sawed-off shotgun in 1979. There was nothing peaceful or compassionate about the way [Albert Owens], Thsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Yee Chen Lin died. Owen[s] was a white teen-age clerk at a 7-11 convenience store, shot twice in the back of the head -- execution-style -- as he lay unarmed on the floor during a hold-up. A witness testified that Williams mocked the gurgling sounds Owen[s] made as he lay dying. "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him," the witness quoted Williams.

The Yangs were Taiwanese immigrants who, along with their daughter Yee Chen Lin, were gunned down during a motel robbery two weeks after Owen[s] died. Half of the daughter's face was blown off by the shotgun blasts, former L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Robert Martin told me in an interview this week. Williams called them "Buddhaheads," Martin recounted, and robbed them of petty cash.

Williams has yet to apologize to the victims' families. When the trial ended, Martin told me, Williams muttered to the prosecution team, "I'll get every one of you m-----f-----s."

Spoken like a Nobel laureate.

Of course our Tookie has a multitude of supporters. He has his own website.

Tookie's Corner

He's got a book written about him. You may order the autobiography of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Blue Rage, Black Redemption from Damamli Publishing Company. He even has his own movie. Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story played by Jamie Foxx, it is eery that Jamies birthdate 13 December 1967 and Stanley's date of execution Dec 13, 2005 are on the same day.

Yes those who hold forth that Stanley Williams is a redeemed man and has much to offer society are legion.

Then there are thos who think Stanley Williams is
not a special case but that the execution should be halted because.

Celebrities and Redemption Aren't the Point. States Shouldn't Kill.
No Special Break for Tookie

"Williams's case is about the power of redemption, his supporters say, but I think it's more about the power of celebrity. The state shouldn't execute Williams, but only because the state shouldn't execute anybody -- the death penalty is a barbaric anachronism that should have been eliminated long ago, as far as I'm concerned. But it can't be right to save Williams just because he's 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"

What does make him special, according to his supporters, is that he has been so lavishly repentant about the culture of violence he helped create.
Of course, there are hundreds of other men on death row who repent of their crimes and would appreciate a little executive clemency, but they don't have movie stars pleading their cases. Oh, and also lacking a publicity machine are the four people Williams was convicted of killing.

For me, this case just reinforces my belief that there is no way the death penalty can be fairly applied. Among the ranks of the condemned are few genuinely innocent men -- although one is too many. But death row is brimming with genuinely repentant men, not because some divine revelation has hit them but simply because they have grown older.

Tookie Williams is 51; his body has softened, his rage dissipated. The state of California will not be killing the same man it sentenced to death 24 years ago. But don't buy the argument that he's a special case, because he's not."

So it seems there is a division in the clemency side. One thinks his redemption and make him a special case the other that No one should be executed and he is not a special case.

Someone give me the odds on how many of these "we cannot execute any one person because we might kill and innocent", proclaimers ALSO support Abortion?

Mike Farrel is also a Supporter

General statement by Mike Farrell concerning Stanley Tookie Williams

To Squiggy from Mike

Because there's been a significant reaction to the press coverage of my opposition to the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, I thought it might be a good idea to post a general statement for the benefit of anyone who has a question or concern.

I thought it was already quite clear that I oppose the death penalty. That means I'm against all state killing regardless of whether the individual in question is guilty or innocent. But some of those who have communicated their upset either aren't aware of that or feel this case should be an exception. Let me try to be more clear.

I believe killing is wrong. That being so, I believe that the state (or the people in a civilized society) have a special responsibility to always act in a manner that honors the principles of humanity that underpin our society. For the state to kill teaches that killing is appropriate under certain circumstances and, by extension, provides justification to those who believe that their particular case or circumstance warrants it as well. The young, in particular, learn behavior from us and this requires that we always reach for the higher standard

That apply to the unborn Mike? Is it against your moral standards to kill them? Me I am just an Unteachable Ignorant Red State Voter, I DO think that
"killing is appropriate under certain circumstances"
Though if someone were to be chopping Mike Farrel up with an axe, I might be willing to listen to him expound on his non-violent principles while he expired. Think he would? if he saw someone running up with a shotgun or would he be screaming
"Kill Them. KILL THEM!"

Despite being in agreement with Eugene Robinson Captain's Quarters in Celebrity Death Row Spotlights illuminates some glaring inconsistancies.
(One other point: does anyone else notice that three of four of Tookie's victims were Asian shopowners? Angelenos know what that entails for the gang culture of LA. These weren't just gang-banging murders but hate-crime executions, just the same as the dragging death of James Byrd. I notice Danny Glover and Jamie Foxx aren't clamoring for those murderers to get clemency from the governor of Texas, so why are they arguing for Tookie?)

I don't support the death penalty. Unlike the clueless Hollywood celebrities who manage to hijack this issue, I don't view the condemned as victims and moral guideposts, either. The elevation of Tookie to philosopher disgusts and sickens me, and it undermines the efforts to convince people of the uselessness and overreach of the death penalty.

But there is ONE THING I have not heard anyone mention or speak of. Particularly those like Mike Farrel who out of conviction, compassion and principle oppose this execution.

I it the other night when I heard Farrel talking about all this on TV.

If I could have looked him in the eyes after he had finished. I would have asked him something like this.

A lot of effort, and work has been expended to keep this bloodthirsty butcher alive , how about the families of the victims? What are their lives like these days.
Those who have lost loved ones at the hands of this thing, have they recovered? Do they still suffer.

Do you know?

Have you bothered to inquire.

Do you care?.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 10:24 PM CST
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Updated: Saturday, 3 December 2005 3:05 AM CST