Good for the Governator:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to block the execution early Tuesday of Stanley Tookie Williams, rejecting the notion that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had atoned for his crimes and found redemption on death row.With a federal court refusing to grant a reprieve, Williams, 51, was set to die by injection at San Quentin Prison just after midnight for murdering four people during two 1979 holdups.
Williams’ case became one of the nation’s biggest death-row cause celebres in decades. It set off a nationwide debate over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams had made amends by writing children’s books about the dangers of gangs.
But Schwarzenegger suggested that Williams’ supposed change of heart was not genuine, noting that the inmate had not owned up to his crimes or shown any real remorse for the countless killings committed by the Crips.
I’m no big fan of the death penalty but Tookie has got to go. The idea of “redemption” on death row is laughable, something only liberals and people who believe in the tooth fairy can support with a straight face. There is no redemption for someone who has killed 4 people in the manner that Mr. Williams did. The Lord will redeem him perhaps, but please do not ask us to. Laughing and bragging about murdering the innocent is an irredeemable sin. And the fact that he has yet to take responsibility for his crimes and show any remorse whatsoever for not only those he killed but the thousands of dead young people whose lives were tragically cut short either in gang warfare or as a result of being caught in the cross fire bespeaks a breathtaking arrogance that should give the lie to any “redemption” Mr. Williams claims as a result of death staring him square in the face.
The problems with the death penalty have been well documented by people a helluva a lot smarter than I am. Basically, it comes down to a question of justice not of race. It is proven to us time and time again that if you’re rich, you have an excellent chance of either beating a murder rap or at the very least, escaping the death penalty. Poor people are not so lucky. And when talking about justice, how can we in good conscience allow this disparity when dealing with the life and death of a human being?
But I’ll make an exception in Tookie’s case. The wasteland that is South Central Los Angeles and countless other inner city war zones can at least partly be laid at the feet of Mr. William’s creation; the Crips street gang. So much violence and terror. So many destroyed lives. And let’s not forget a culture that glorifies the Tookies of the world at the expense of more uplifting and hopeful role models. Tookie offered a grinning death’s head as a symbol to his followers and admirers. You can’t get much more destructive than that.
UPDATE
React – both sublime and grotesque – from the right.
I am glad he ‘reformed’ after a while in jail, and I am glad he managed to do a few good things after being sentenced to death for his unspeakable crimes- maybe his God will take that into account tonight. But personally, I have a really hard time getting worked up over this case, and think there are far better cases to champion for those who dislike the death penalty than a multiple murderer who still refuses to admit his own guilt.
Ace with some spot-on commentary on reaction from the left:
It’s a strange compulsion of the radical left to excuse the worst of all crimes—murder—simply because someone may have a bit of creative talent or literary potential. Murder is not some penny-ante offense that is outlawed only due to blue laws forced on the country by religious freaks. It is the ultimate crime, the alpha and omega of violations.
Tookie Williams murdered at least four people.
But he wrote a children’s book.
This absolves his sins?
In his gentle, caring way, Misha commiserates with Tookie ’s desire not to have anyone present at the execution:
‘Fraid you don’t have much say in that matter, you perverted, murdering son of a whore. Pardon our harsh language, but we’re still pissed off that all of the tickets to the show were sold out and that we’ll be stuck at home when we should be watching Tookie getting the Juice O’Death, stuffing our face with pork rinds and swilling beer. They do allow beer in there, don’t they?
Um…don’t think so my Emperor but we could try and make an exception in your case.
Thanks to Will Collier for reminding us what Mr. Williams is being executed for.
As usual, James Joyner is thoughtful and succinct:
While laudable that Williams decided that murder and mayhem were bad things while in prison, achieving the moral consciousness of the average 6-year-old does not erase his heinous past. As founder of the Crips, he is responsible for more murders than Charles Manson, Son of Sam, Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and every other serial killer you’ve ever heard of combined. If anyone deserves to die, it’s him.
7:26 pm
Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Williams
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday refused to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the found
8:38 pm
Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Stanley Tookie Williams Clemency
Some of these folks should read “An Open Letter to Stanley “Tookie” Williams Supporters”:
10:05 pm
Its nice that people can watch the state murder someone who murdered someone. It gives the death penalty advocate the same satifaction as a murderer and yet they are able to sleep at night because the state murder is “legal.”
10:25 pm
Matt, I would like to say that I consider that comment idiotic, but idiotic doesn’t approach the depths of false moral indignation that you seem to pursue with such a smug, and just plain brain-numbingly stupid remark.
The fact that tookie killed four people, in cold blood, bragged about it, co-founded one of the worst scourges of modern America and has in effect been an accessory to countless murders through hsi actions early in life are not, NOT over ridden by the fact that he wrote some childrens books and managed to get a bunch of simpering, egotistical and wrongheaded entertainers to come to his defense.
Redemption is NOT a popularity contest, and twentyfive years of appeals is far too long.
Given my ‘druthers I would say get biblical on his ass and lay him down and let him wonder when someone was going to pull the trigger that would send a bullet tearing into the back of his body the way he killed the 7-11 clerk. Slipping off into unconscienceness is way too easy of a way for such a monster to die. He should be made to suffer the kind of terror he inspired in those he killed during their last moments of life.
That is justice.
To those people that will stand outside of San Q tonight, crying that an injustice is being done, I pray that your families are safe from the monsters that roam the streets and prey on people claiming allegiance to the crips or the bloods or any other gangs out there.
Stanley “Tookie” Williams contributed greatly to this evil, and I hope his soul finds no rest for all eternity.
Burn in hell tookie.
10:31 pm
Matt,
You’ve got it wrong. The state is not murdering Tookie Williams. Society is purging itself of a toxin – one Tookie Williams. The social compact that enables us to live together as civilized human beings rather than animals does not permit callous atrocities such as those Williams unashamedly and unrepentantly committed. Nor do I wish it to. I do not want my society to be shared by sociopathic killers.
Much has been made about the notion of redemption. I believe in redemption. It is possible that Tookie Williams has earned redemption. I personally do not believe he has, but it is possible. That decision, however, is not mine to make. Tookie Williams is on his way to a Judge Alone hearing. He will gain either clemency or further sentencing. We won’t know the results, but he will get his chance, just as we all will some day.
11:00 pm
Matt,
I agree with kender regarding your knee jerk sobbing and gut wrenching over Tookies execution. But that’s heither here nor there. Let’s cut to the chase shall we?....
The Merriam Webster definition of murder: “the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought”. The key word there being UNLAWFULLY. Is the state (as representing the will of the citizens of California) KILLING Tookie? yes.
Is the state (as representing the will of the citizens of California)murdering Tookie? No.
He is being executed because the people of the State of California, of which I was one for many years) have decided that his crimes are so terrible that he must be removed from society for the sake of society.
Even as his books written against gang violence (which did not sell) are given as a reason to spare his life, I suspect that his execution may be a more effective influence on that young punk that yesterday thought that the “system” would be on his side. Is it possible his execution might just save lives? God forbid you consider that. (oops, did I say God?)
Don’t know about you but the real possibility of execution would make me think twice….
11:32 pm
I just meant before that I think Capital punishement makes the state just as bad. I appologize to those I offended. It is terrible that he killed 4 people, he should never be let out of prison.
However, death is death, does it matter who administers it?
12:37 am
Well Tookie will be the best kind of murderer soon….A DEAD ONE
GET THE NEEDLE FLOWING
12:55 am
THE TOOKIE FILES: NOTES ON THE FREAK SHOW
***scroll for rolling updates*** It’s a zoo outside San Quentin prison, where convicted murderer/Crips gang co-founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams is scheduled to die by injection at San Quentin Prison at 12:01am Pacific time for murdering four people…
1:41 am
I would like to respond to Mark (the other Mark) with regard to his question: “However, death is death, does it matter who administers it?”
I think a reasonable person can take the moral position that killing except in cases of unavoidable self-defense is always wrong. If you take that position consistently, it is quite reasonable to say that no one should be killed by the state because there is no unavoidable self-defense issue involved. A life sentence in a secure prison should do the job.
But when I search my conscience and my understanding of life and what is moral and what the Creator would say on this, my intuition and conscience tells me that it is acceptable to put to death a murderer like Stanley Williams. I believe the world is a harsh school or training ground we come to in order to grow. And when you use your time here to murder other people, and take away their opportunity to learn, you forfeit your moral right to live as well. Death occurs all the time. Nature is quite brutal and remorseless. It is not an easy world. And in my opinion, it is a just and moral thing to put a proven murderer to death in a human way. (I do think you need to maintain a very high standard of proof to justify a death penalty.) And I think it is immoral to allow a murderer to drag out his appeals for 24 years. There is no explanation I can conceive of that would justify 24 years worth of delays. The man has gamed the system to the Nth degree and it is time for him to be removed from this sphere of existence for what he has done.
2:16 am
Do any of the Hollywood beautiful remember Norman Mailer’s pet redemption project, Jack Abbott?
2:37 am
BURN, TOOKIE, BURN!
... I wish I could remember whom I’m quoting when I say “Every life has value. In some cases the value is just negative.” ...
3:04 am
Matt,
Your making a moral equivalence between a legal process that has taken 24 long years to play out to determine guilt while allowing legal redress ad infinitum to a gangland shotgun murder of four innocent people while he laughed his way through them is disgusting. He was a predator who was too damn sorry to work and found no problem with murdering people for chump change. Do you think he would have had a problem pumping you full of lead for whatever you had on you? But you apparently think this slimeball would be a great loss to society. If people such as yourself really believe his life should be spared, I say send them the bill for his upkeep. Do realize how much money has already been wasted on this cretin? If you recieved a stiff bill for his upkeep, we’d see how much you care. I’ll tell you how much I care. I’ll contribute a half dozen 00 buckshot shotgun shells for his execution. If that was good enough for his victims, it’s good enough for him. Let him stare the wrong way down a shotgun barrel like his innocent victims did. Turnabout is fair play.
7:50 am
The Terminator becomes the Exterminator
This morning, shortly after midnight, California exterminated one of its vermin… Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder…
8:16 am
Obligatory “Tookie Williams Is Dead” Post
Redemption. If redemption is possible in such a open-and-shut case as Mr. Williams’, then that is God’s business. Man’s business is to enforce man’s laws.
...
8:23 am
The world certainly won’t miss the odious Mr. Williams, whose professions of redemption had all the authenticity of a Clinton crying jag. Nor do I have anything in principle against capital punishment. Still, I remind myself on days like this that capital punishment is, after all, a government program—you know, like Medicare and the War on Poverty. As a conservative, I raise a skeptical eyebrow when Big Gov proposes to solve this or that social problem. Should I not regard with equal skepticism its ability to fairly and efficiently administer capital punishment?
8:43 am
Tookie’s supporters should be gratified to know that in only seven years he’ll qualify for a free booster shot.
9:00 am
[...] ing around the embers of their victory bonfires. “Shake hands with the devil,” says one. Michelle Malkin, in her role as trib [...]
9:06 am
[...] death penalty, but in America, each State can decide for itself. Rightwing Nuthouse says Note To Tookie, Shake Hands With The Devil For Me. [...]
10:24 am
Stanley Tookie Williams Finally Executed But Debate Rages
The end finally came for Stanley Tookie Williams who was executed here in California last night but there is no end in sight for the debate over the issue of capital punishment.
10:40 am
Scam Artists and Cry Babies Mourn the Execution of a Cold Blooded Murderer
It just goes to show what Americans have degenerated into when they apotheosize a cheap punk murderer that wouldn’t think a second about blowing your head off with a shotgun and then laughing about it. What the hell has this country become?
Mo…
11:02 am
[...] HREF=”http://patterico.com/2005/12/12/4040/tookie-the-ducky-beats-the-rap/”>Department of [...]
12:23 pm
Tookie Williams held up a store with 3 accomplices, blew the clerk’s arm off with a shotgun, then split $120 with his 3 accomplices. Profit – $30. Days later, he held up a motel and used his shotgun to blow apart two elderly people and their middle-aged daughter. The take – $100. For a total of $130, he callously blew away 4 innocent human lives.
Then he laughed about it.
There was no remorse after the first killing, because in a matter of days, he went out and did it 3 more times. There was no remorse after the last killing, because he bragged and laughed about them. There was no remorse after his arrest, because he plotted with a fellow prisoner to kill the fuards and escape. There was no remorse since his conviction, because he denied responsibility and worked to beat the system for 24 years.
A remorseless killer. If you want to see that part of his handiwork, I’ll be glad to email you copies of the official crime scene photos. I won’t look at them again. I’ve seen enough. To do what he did, then to laugh about it, and then to spend decades of time and millions of dollars of taxpayers money trying to get over on it, doesn’t spark any sympathy in me whatsoever. I do not want sociopaths like Tookie Williams inhabiting the same world as I and my family inhabit. So far as I am concerned, executing Tookie Williams was no more than society taking out the trash.
If you want to argue against the death penalty, fine. There is a lot of room for argument, especially about the inequities in our legal system. But don’t use Tookie Williams as your poster child; you don’t do your side of the argument any good.
1:14 pm
In a certain respect the details of his crime do not even matter. The fact is that in order to maintain civil society we must have the rule of law. This man broke that law and was accordingly found guilty; that ruling was upheld through several appeals. .
If you disagree with the death penalty it is a legislative matter and you should vote for anti-death penalty candidates.
If you break a law you must be willing you take the chance that you will be caught and held to whatever laws on are the books, whether or not you think those laws are just. I don’t think marijuana should be illegal for example, but I never smoke it because I don’t want to be on the business end of the criminal justice system.
Tookie broke the law in a state in which the death penalty would be a possible sentence for his crime.
If you don’t like the death penalty protest the death penalty; don’t protest in favor of giving one man a special exemption just becuase he is friends with celebrities and writes books.
If there were to be a Constitutional amendment against the death penalty tomorrow, strictly speaking, it should apply to those comitting crimes from here on out and the sentences that were handed before that law went into place should still be carried out.
2:44 pm
Writing 9 books or 99,000 doesn’t even come close to making up for 4 senseless, brutal, cold-blooded murders.
You got off way too easy in my book.
4:16 pm
How Very Christian Of You
California executed a man last night. How are the so-called “Christian Right” blogs reating? With a blood-frenzy of delight, jokes, outright hate and joyful vengence….
5:11 pm
Speaking of Chucky Manson. What’s the holdup. Hasn’t he had enough appeals. Let’s get it over with already. I believe there ought to be a time limit on appeals. Pick a time, whatever you feel is long enough. If the perp can’t get a decent explanation out within that time frame, execute them. This whole business of there being justice after a 25 year ordeal, for a crime with such obvious evidence, is a farce. Justice is supposed to be swift.
7:25 pm
Seeing the Forest’s post reminds me how grateful we all should be for all those “secular Left” blogs, where they confine themselves to such civilized and progressive activities as calling for the assassination of George W. Bush. Indeed, the world is unworthy of such superhuman compassion.
2:41 am
There may be many problems with the death penalty, but few people ever discuss the most positive aspect – the THREAT of the death penalty.
Up here in Washington State, the cops recently put away Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, for 48 consecutive life sentences. How? Because he admitted to them all. Why? Because he was threatened with the big needle.
His confession was entered in June 2003, he went up the river later that year. If not for the death penalty, it’s doubtful that Gary Ridgeway would be a convicted killer right now. He admitted to FAR more killings than the could have been proven in court – 48 rather than 6 or 8. The families of the victims were spared the time in court and they didn’t have to re-live the crimes. And the state taxpayers saved tens of millions of dollars, even considering the fact that we’ll be paying for 3 hots and a cot for this killer for many years.
That being said, for a convicted murderer like Tookie who never admits nor confesses to his crimes – the title of this post sums it up for me. He laughed about murdering people. Even Gary Ridgeway never laughed about it.
8:18 pm
I was wondering if I were to write a book if all my sins would be deleted? The Death Penalty should be executed much more quicker than it is. The victim pays for these cowards to appeal. God definently believed in the Death Penatly but He had another name for it. Some have really made a game out of killing others and then cry when they are about to be put to death. Because the system is not punishing people the way they should, evil is running rampant in this country. The gas chamber is inhumane but taking a shotgun and blowing someone’s brains out is not inhumane.
6:01 pm
YOU ALL ARE BASTERDS TOOKIE WAS A HERO TO THE BLACK PEOPLE, A SINCE OF HOPE FOR US ALL. MAY GOD BE WITH HIM AND ALL OF YOU AS WELL BECAUSE I KNOW IF ANYBODY NEEDS GOD IT’S PEOPLE LIKE YOU!
11:10 am
>>Its nice that people can watch the state murder someone who murdered someone. It gives the death penalty advocate the same satifaction as a murderer and yet they are able to sleep at night because the state murder is “legal.â€
4:07 am
bactrim
1:49 am
designer-purse
2:09 am
garden-fountain
6:52 pm
On jugement day I will watch all you tookie haters burn in hell
You will burn in hell for your hatered of tookie william.
Do any of you people read the bible, God said you shall not kill.And the state of calif.did so as far as I’m concerned you all who hate this man can and will burn in hell.