Posted on 11/28/2005 10:39:14 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Monday, 28 November 2005, 10:58 GMT
Stars line up in ex-gangster plea
Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx is among a number of high-profile stars calling for clemency for reformed gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams.
Foxx, who starred in a dramatisation of Williams's life, protested against Williams's planned execution at the premiere of his new film Jarhead.
Last week rap star Snoop Dogg spoke at a rally at San Quentin prison saying Williams's voice "needs to be heard".
Williams, 51, was sentenced to death in 1981 for the murder of four people.
Co-founder of the notorious Los Angeles Crips street-gang, Williams denies committing the 1979 murders that put him on death row.
He faces death by lethal injection on 13 December 2005.
While in jail, Williams has won praise for his anti-gang books, earning several Nobel Peace Prize nominations for his teachings.
His supporters range from Foxx and Snoop Dogg (himself a former Crips member) to Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
They hope to persuade California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that Williams can do more for society alive than dead.
When the Williams' biopic Redemption aired on US television last year, Foxx said: "If Stan "Tookie" Williams had been born in Connecticut in the same type of situation, and was a white man, he would have been running a company."
"But, born a black man who has the capability of having brute strength and the capability of being smart in the ways of the world, he's going to get into what he gets into."
But US prosecutors said Williams was a "cold-blooded killer" who did not deserve "atonement" for his "brutal, murderous acts".
The crimes Williams was accused of were "heinous," said former MASH star Mike Farrell, who has lobbied for him for several years, but insists he has made"an extraordinary transformation".
Russell Crowe and Harry Belafonte are among the signatures Farrell has collected calling for clemency for Williams.
You're damn right you'd get an argument over that incredible remark!
"Good is served" by ridding our planet of evil murderous scum, of which "Tookie" is Exhibit 'A'.
My guess is that he is no longer "evil" at this point, but he does bear the burden of his past, and should pay for it. I am wondering if his life since then has produced any "good". I dont know enough about the guy, or whom he might have positively influenced.
Excuse me, but what sort of clemency did this butt-wipe grant his victims?
Actions speak louder than words. Anyone can say, "Oh, by the way, I'm really nice now, and I love Jesus." But he murdered people, and lived a very violent life.
Any human being capable of the depravity of his actions did not start out "nice", and has no capacity to unlearn the lack of emotion that allowed the actions in the first place.
Just gotta shake my head. Can't understand it.
Who knows how many more murders this "great guy" POS committed, (we only know of 4) who knows how many have died from Crip violence that he helped start. This "great guy" is not death row to be reformed. The death penalty is not about rehabilitation. This "great guy" could be reformed, he could be rehabilitated. He could receive the Nobel "Yasser Afafat" Peace prize. He could have ACLU, Jesse Jackson, all the Hollywood left, and you taking up his cause, but he has to answer for the crimes he was convicted for.
Some people believe that a condemned felon's attitude (or actions) should play a part in clemency, I do not. His current attitude or list of liberal friends have nothing to do with his murders he committed.
This is SICK! This animal is a murderer, and as such, deserves to be put down! (Never mind that he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death years ago!)
To these stars it is as if the only victim to be considered is the one to be executed. They could care less about the survivors of those who were murdered. I really think that they live in a world of "Can't change the past but we can change the future" mindset. A mindset that only looks at self. Disgusting.
Jack Abbott...murderer,bank robber,all around swell fella is "discovered" by Norman Mailer.At Abbott's parole hearing, Mailer personally vouches for Abbott and guarantees him a job if he's released.Abbott is paroled due to Mailer's efforts.
Six weeks later,Abbott is back in prison,this time for having knifed to death a college kid/waiter because the kid had the audacity to refuse Abbott access to the restaurant's bathroom.
No, he's not an ex-gangster yet. I'm looking forward to this notice from San Quentin in a couple of weeks:
"'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This gangster is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is Maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If we 'adn't nailed 'im in the coffin 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS...IS AN EX-GANGSTER!!"
...of course, South Central Blues stun easily, major...
You should say it correctly: "There are few other Freepers like me."
Governor Schwarzenegger,
It's time. Flush the turd down the toilet.
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