As you may have heard by now, Stanley Williams has been denied clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
While watching the news early this morning, there was a large group of mostly white folks standing in front of San Quintin (the prison where is being held currently) singing the following song:
All we are say-ing, is set Stanley free! (in the melody of that famous Beatles tune “Give peace a chance”)
What angered me for about a minute is the fact that these same chuckle-heads (sorry, its late in the day and I’m tired) would even think about doing the same thing in the ‘hood (how about nearby Oakland) if a child was gunned down by a stray bullet. Instead, they want to look for a poster-boy for their cause.
Not too long ago I wrote about the fact that the pro-Williams crowd barely mentions the victims in this situation. I also mentioned that I was unable to find ANY pictures of the actual victims after doing a Google and Yahoo image search. Thanks to radio talk show host Michael Savage, the pictures are now online for the general public
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A STRONG STOMACH, DON’T GO TO THE LINK.
Pictures of victims here.
The NAACP did not waste any time to put together a website that outlines all the gruesome details of the James Byrd case. Why overlook the details in this case?
Folks can have their “Tookie” fantasy all they want, but reality is reality. People DID die.
I haven’t made comments about this case in conversations because I knew I didn’t have all the details, (and I hate people who comment on what they don’t know about). But today I looked at the news I looked on the web. And I think a lot of people who are ralling for “Tookie” are like most humans (especially Americans) just joining the band wagon with everyone else and have not investgated any of the facts.
blue, read for yourself what the prosecutor’s response to Tookie’s clemency request. There’s lots of facts included in his response that you WON’T hear about through word of mouth or in the media.
http://www.lacountyda.org/pdf/swilliams.pdf
saw the pictures,yes it was a terrable crime.howver i think the issue is that tookie redeemed himself.not to be insensative but..that wont be the last of crime.and more more horrific ones as well. like lets say manson or kids that kill their parents,the point is.if you cant redeem yourself.or write books and educated others and be nominated for a nobel prize no less them what? DO THE WORST WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE.?cause theirs no redemtion.? today Im a mental health doctor.”befor”i was felon who did 6years as a kid.in a max.prison.i keep gang members from going to jail. their is such a thing as change and redemption.If NOT.then out ”Humanity”is lost.and one side ois no better than the other.just one has a peice of paper that says they can take a life.
JC, Tookies best chance to redeem himself was to stand like a man and state that he was deserving of the punishment of execution for his crimes.
This would send a much stronger message than any of the books he wrote.
He had not redeemed himself in anyway.
Tookie was the last victim of Tookie Williams.
He was resposible for ending the lifes of others and he was also responsible for his own life being brought to an end.
It is a shame he had to die but it is a fate he could have avoided had he not taken the lifes of others.
i dont believe in the death penalty
since the death penalty has been reinstated - murders have risen significantly. it doesn’t deter anything.
when Tookie facilitated a truce…gang violence dropped.
the ‘justice’ system is flawed..but their is no flaw in death because the end is always the same..people die and you can’t undo that.
why jump to the conclusion that he recieved a fair trial. lets say he was convicted of killing 20 people…what difference would that make if he didn’t actually do it? i know the crimes were gruesome…but i can’t trust that he was arrested, tried or convicted fairly.
conviction doesn’t mean guilt.
lapd in 1979…would you even want to get pulled over by them then…or now?
cointelpro
the informant admitted he lied
the forensics and ballistics indicate no residue on clothing
Mumia, Assatta, Fred Hampton, Geronimo Pratt
Tookie’s case is too similar to the aforementioned…its too bad he wasn’t a Panther. then again…he would have still been set up.
Tookie facilitated a truce…gang violence dropped.
Wow! Who told you that one? It actually went the other way. Just ask his son who is also in prison. So much for his children’s books?
but i can’t trust that he was arrested, tried or convicted fairly.
After having the luxury of having his case presented to roughly 40 different judges, when will you?
the informant admitted he lied…
Okay, now lets hear the rest of the story…
The Witnesses Against Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams
From Charles Montaldo,Your Guide to Crime / Punishment.
Nov 29 2005
Statement ‘Factually Inaccurate,’ D.A. Says
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office reputed the claim made by Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams that all of the witnesses against him received freedom or vastly reduced sentences for their testimony:
Counsel for Williams claims in the “Petition for Executive Clemency” that: What the District Attorney may not acknowledge is the nature of the evidence against Stanley Williams, who has always asserted his innocence . . . the case rested on the testimony of claimed accomplices and admitted informants, including a notorious jailhouse informant, all of whom were facing substantial prison time and even death for various offenses, and all of whom received either freedom or vastly reduced sentences for their testimony. (Petition for Executive Clemency, Dated November 8, 2005, 9).
This statement is factually inaccurate. The People’s case rested on strong physical evidence, eyewitnesses, and a series of incriminating admissions made by Williams himself. ) (more…)
I would strongly encourage you to read the entire article as it lists what I believe to be reference numbers to the actual court documents.
Will crime continue even after Williams’ death? You bet. But the greatest thing that troubled youth can learn from his death is that there is a such thing as CONSEQUENCE to poor choices. All the children’s books in the world cannot erase that.
actually i don’t find anything dealing w/ his Nobel nominations or children’s books important to the argument for his clemency. yet if you want to preach about that…go right ahead…i’m not really paying attention to it…which is why i never mentioned it in the first place.
one of Tookies son’s is in jail..the other has a family and isn’t in a life of crime.
However, no one had to tell me gang violence took a serious dip after the truce…I saw it here first hand.
anyhow…what good are ‘actual court documents’ if the court system itself is corrupt? would you ask the lapd for the truth about the lapd? what i’m asking you is who protects us from cops, (and eventually the fbi)?
40 judges or a 1000 judges..again…doesn’t matter if the system is corrupt.
Gloria Killians case was reject time and time again…as was Geronimo Pratt’s…does that imply guilt?
from - http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2313.shtml
“Physical evidence such as fingerprints and a bloody boot-print could not be traced to Stanley Williams.
Only one shotgun shell was found at the motel. It ostensibly came from a shotgun purchased legally five years before by Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Atty. Wefald, after they testified that Mr. Williams “volunteered” a confession to them.
Deputy Gilbert Gwaltney perjured himself when he supported Mr. Garrett, by testifying that the informant had a sound alibi at the time his crime partner Wilbon was murdered. Mr. Wilbon’s body was so badly decomposed, Mr. 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 Stanley Williams had “volunteered” a confession to himâ€â€but only after a police officer had left the police file on Mr. Williams overnight in the informant’s cell for him to read before he testified the next day, according to Atty. Wefald.
The prosecutor, who had already been censured twice by the California Supreme Court for discriminatory behavior, threw three Black people off the jury, leaving a majority-White jury with few or no Blacks (at least one juror’s racial identity is in dispute).
Atty. 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 that 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. ”
_____
he wasn’t just executed for murders. he was executed for starting a gang (which he had no idea would infect the rest of the nation).
“the greatest thing that troubled youth can learn from his death is that there is a such thing as CONSEQUENCE to poor choices.”
- partly, true…if they think he did it.
killling someone to show that killing is wrong only shows that it’s ok to kill.
However, no one had to tell me gang violence took a serious dip after the truce…I saw it here first hand.
That is not what statistics tell us, that is those that have a career studying these things. Somewhere on this site I have a link to an old LA Times article that shows us that gang crime (gang and non-gang related) continued on its upward trend all throughout the 80’s and 90’s.
anyhow…what good are ‘actual court documents’ if the court system itself is corrupt? would you ask the lapd for the truth about the lapd? what i’m asking you is who protects us from cops, (and eventually the fbi)?
40 judges or a 1000 judges..again…doesn’t matter if the system is corrupt.
Sooo, was the system corrupt when it sentenced the murders of James Byrd to death? How about other racists that have been executed or are still on death row?
Final Call…hmmmm.
Is this not the same paper that is backed by the man who claimed the levees were blown up. And when asked for proof, he pointed to Nagin who in turn is in denial?
I’m pointing you to court documents and you are presenting this? Come on, dawg.