California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency Monday for convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, who co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger announced the decision shortly after a federal appeals court refused to block Williams' execution by lethal injection scheduled for shortly after midnight local time Monday.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who met with Williams earlier in the day, criticized Schwarzenegger for deciding not to spare Williams.
Jackson said Williams, who was convicted of killing four people in 1979, had earned clemency and that Schwarzenegger's decision was about "making politicians look tough, but that does not make it right."
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, rejected an affidavit from Williams' lawyers that suggested someone framed the onetime gang leader.
Unless the full 9th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Williams is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET) at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can be contacted on 415-556-9800 and the U.S. Supreme Court can be contacted on 202-479-3360, StreetHop.com urges our readers to take action in phoning these courts in a final effort to save the life of Tookie.
California's Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to stay the execution on Sunday. The state has executed only 11 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
In their appeal to the 9th Circuit, attorneys pinned their hopes on the declaration of a new witness -- Gordon Bradbury von Ellerman -- a jail trusty detained with Williams in the Los Angeles County Jail from 1979 to 1980.
In the affidavit, von Ellerman said he was the cellmate of another trusty, identified as George "Roger" Oglesby.
Von Ellerman said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department personnel provided Oglesby with documents to aid him in testifying against Williams in return for reduced or dropped charges.
"I was personally aware that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department personnel would often provide information to these inmates so that they could help frame defendants for crimes," he said in the statement.
A statement from Schwarzenegger read: "The possible irregularities in Williams' trial have been thoroughly and carefully reviewed by the courts, and there is no reason to disturb the judicial decisions that uphold the jury's decisions that he is guilty of these four murders and should pay with his life."
Williams, who would be 52 on December 29, spent part of Monday with his attorneys and family members at San Quentin.
While in prison, Williams became an anti-gang crusader, but he has consistently refused to take part in a debriefing with authorities to provide them potentially valuable information about the Crips gangs, said lead prosecutor John Monaghan.
Williams has denounced gang violence and written children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups.
He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did, which led to a life of crime and a death sentence.
Celebrities, teachers and anti-death penalty advocates have spoken on Williams' behalf, but Schwarzenegger questioned the sincerity of Williams' conversion to nonviolence.
"Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case," the governor wrote.
"Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."
A jury convicted Williams of killing a 26-year-old Los Angeles convenience store clerk in February 1979, shooting him twice in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun while the victim was face down on the floor.
The jury also convicted him of shooting and killing an immigrant Chinese couple and their 41-year-old daughter less than two weeks later while stealing less than $100 cash from their motel.
Both cases were handled in a single trial. Williams was sentenced to death in 1981.
If you believe that Tookie should be spared the death penalty, please contact The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on 415-556-9800 and the U.S. Supreme Court on 202-479-3360 and voice your opinion -- it is Tookie's last hope.
Schwarzenegger announced the decision shortly after a federal appeals court refused to block Williams' execution by lethal injection scheduled for shortly after midnight local time Monday.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who met with Williams earlier in the day, criticized Schwarzenegger for deciding not to spare Williams.
Jackson said Williams, who was convicted of killing four people in 1979, had earned clemency and that Schwarzenegger's decision was about "making politicians look tough, but that does not make it right."
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, rejected an affidavit from Williams' lawyers that suggested someone framed the onetime gang leader.
Unless the full 9th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Williams is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET) at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can be contacted on 415-556-9800 and the U.S. Supreme Court can be contacted on 202-479-3360, StreetHop.com urges our readers to take action in phoning these courts in a final effort to save the life of Tookie.
California's Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to stay the execution on Sunday. The state has executed only 11 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
In their appeal to the 9th Circuit, attorneys pinned their hopes on the declaration of a new witness -- Gordon Bradbury von Ellerman -- a jail trusty detained with Williams in the Los Angeles County Jail from 1979 to 1980.
In the affidavit, von Ellerman said he was the cellmate of another trusty, identified as George "Roger" Oglesby.
Von Ellerman said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department personnel provided Oglesby with documents to aid him in testifying against Williams in return for reduced or dropped charges.
"I was personally aware that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department personnel would often provide information to these inmates so that they could help frame defendants for crimes," he said in the statement.
A statement from Schwarzenegger read: "The possible irregularities in Williams' trial have been thoroughly and carefully reviewed by the courts, and there is no reason to disturb the judicial decisions that uphold the jury's decisions that he is guilty of these four murders and should pay with his life."
Williams, who would be 52 on December 29, spent part of Monday with his attorneys and family members at San Quentin.
While in prison, Williams became an anti-gang crusader, but he has consistently refused to take part in a debriefing with authorities to provide them potentially valuable information about the Crips gangs, said lead prosecutor John Monaghan.
Williams has denounced gang violence and written children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups.
He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did, which led to a life of crime and a death sentence.
Celebrities, teachers and anti-death penalty advocates have spoken on Williams' behalf, but Schwarzenegger questioned the sincerity of Williams' conversion to nonviolence.
"Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case," the governor wrote.
"Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."
A jury convicted Williams of killing a 26-year-old Los Angeles convenience store clerk in February 1979, shooting him twice in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun while the victim was face down on the floor.
The jury also convicted him of shooting and killing an immigrant Chinese couple and their 41-year-old daughter less than two weeks later while stealing less than $100 cash from their motel.
Both cases were handled in a single trial. Williams was sentenced to death in 1981.
If you believe that Tookie should be spared the death penalty, please contact The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on 415-556-9800 and the U.S. Supreme Court on 202-479-3360 and voice your opinion -- it is Tookie's last hope.
