Schwarzenegger Mulls Clemency for Williams

[Math Is Hard]

She published his books.
The crimes he commited were horrendous, he was never debriefed and he never admitted to the murders. I am against the death penalty, yet I don't think Tookie deserved special consideration. But you cannot deny that his books have been a tremendous influence on inner city kids.

Actually, I can. I would like to see some concrete proof that this is the case.

I have heard lots of testimony from teachers who said that children who had never read any book would read Tookie's books.

That is in many ways even more perverse to me. We can't get a kid to read a book unless it's written by a sensationalized gang-banging murderer?

How many children did not turn to crime and gangs because of his influence?

That's what I would like to know.

His books are still being published so he has done his best to redeem himself and now has met his maker. Any further judgement of Tookie is out of any mortal hands.

I completely agree. If there's any redemption for him, it's in the next world, not here.

There is an underclass in this country to whom Tookie was a hero. You can see them as you drive through the cities of America. They live in the neighborhoods next to the freeways. As long as they honor his memory with a peaceful ceremony I say more power to them.

Part of the problem with the "underclass" is that they make crappy choices in heroes (and they are influenced by the media to make these bad choices). The attention is centered around athletes and thugs. The true heroes who are "people of color" (and I say this only because this is what I think is at issue here) seem to pass through unnoticed. In 1986, when the Challenger blew up there was very little outpouring of grief for Ron McNair, who was a brilliant astronaut, scientist, and talented musician, as well. He deserved a 16,000+ memorial service. He was a truly great man who gave his life for science. But when we put a convicted murderer to death, who happens to be a black man, everyone is in an uproar and starts throwing accolades on him.

You must put it in perspective.

I think I do. Williams murdered innocent people in cold blood. He destroyed families who still miss their loved ones unbearably. He was convicted of the crimes. He was sentenced to death. Finally, he was executed. What did I miss? Oh, yes, somewhere in there he redeemed himself and wrote some inspirational childrens' books. If this strategy for clemency had worked I think we would be seeing sweet little childrens' books pouring out of death row by the thousands by every nasty, vicious, murdering, raping monster waiting for the injection. But it didn't.

1. They are not honoring who he was but who he seemed to have become.
2. Funerals are for the living, the dead don't care. The ceremony is not for Tookie so much as for those whose lives he touched with his books.

As for the lives he truly benefitted by his books and his "redemption", I can only for sure ascertain that they were: Barbara Becnell, Jesse Jackson, Snoop Dog, some band-wagoning celebrities, and a pack of media-attention-sucking parasites. I think that he has more to offer through his death as a deterrent to the gang-banging life-style than he did through his life.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

If he had admitted his guilt he probably would have had his sentence commuted. The fact he wouldn't admit to the murders despite the consequences suggests that perhaps he felt strongly that he was innocent of the murders. Strongly enough it seems to die rather than confess to them.
It seems there are a few folk here who don't seem to have the cop on to realize that sometimes wrong verdicts are returned and sometimes the cops even fix evidence to get a conviction. I'm sure this probably comes as a shock to some of you who live in their nice clockwork, black and white world but the justice system is less than perfect.

I seriousy doubt that someone who admits to killing multiple people in the progress of a robberies, including one in particular whose face was blown off with a shot gun, is going to get a commuted sentence. Unfortunately also I would have to say that the fact that his original trial was in '79 and he's black didn't help much either. More than likely he realized that he was going to get death row no matter what and took the gamble that he might get off scott free.
Since '79 the evidence of the case has been gone over several times. The veracity of witnesses has been challenged ect. His lawyer even tried to argue that the jury's decision was unduly influenced by Tookie Williams threatening them during the trial. lol
But ofcourse I'm not an expert. You can always look up the, what was it, eight times, I think, that his case has been through apeals?
Even the majority of the people who were standing up for him and trying to get him clemency didn't try saying he was innocent and admitted that he was guilty of terrible crimes.

 

[Art]

You're welcome to it, of course, but it carries no weight whatsoever. Besides - not even his lawyer tried that angle.

If you knew anything about the processes of law then you would know an appeal for clemency on the grounds of an incorrect verdict is inadmissable. His lawyer didn't argue that angle for that reason. However he did talk about the conviction in the appeal for clemency http://www.cm-p.com/pdf/executiveclemency.pdf ref pgs 9 - 10

One thing, though - you are aware of the evidence against him, right?

Yes, I read up on it. Have you? and there are certainly some elements of the case that should have been reviewed such as the information contained in this affidavit regarding the fixing of evidence by a key witness. http://www.savetookie.org/documents/Affidavit.pdf