Free Republic

Think the debate over Tookie Williams ended with his execution? Guess again. Issuing a public challenge, The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable’s Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Jasmyne Cannick have accused KFI's John and Ken of racism. They insist proof is found in the pair's supposed reluctance to insist a white man on death row be quickly put to death: The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable’s Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Jasmyne Cannick have issued a public challenge to controversial radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of the John and Ken Show of AM 640 KFI (Los Angeles) to prove that...

Looking for easy scapegoats after a series of violent "white" vs. "Arab" attacks in Australia, Islamic leaders and news media outlets have been quick to fault talk radio for fanning the flames. From the London Times: - Yesterday, Islamic leaders blamed the trouble on influential talk radio hosts who had whipped up racial tensions in the wake of last weekend’s attack on the lifesavers, who epitomise Australia’s white traditions and Anglo-Saxon roots. From The Mercury in South Africa: - The President of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, Keysar Trad, said the violence was "bound to happen" after callers to...

Gov. Shwarzeneggar expected to make announcement on Tookie Williams Execution Clemency shortly according to Fox News.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused Monday to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang who awaited execution after midnight in a case that stirred debate over capital punishment and the possibility of redemption on death row. Schwarzenegger was not swayed by pleas from Hollywood stars and petitions from more than 50,000 people who said that Williams had made amends during more than two decades in prison by writing a memoir and a series of children's books about the dangers of gangs. With a reprieve from the federal courts considered unlikely, Williams, 51, was set...

We've been writing about the cadre of mindless celebs that are supporting clemency for convicted murderer of four (and probably many more) and extreme prison make-over supermodel, Crips co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams. He is set to die at midnight, tonight, unless Arnold Schwarzenegger commutes his death sentence. Now, we're sickened to note the support for Tookie by two additional parties, ABC (yes, the broadcast network) and the Muslim hate group, Nation of Islam. ABC & Nation of Islam Support Murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams ABC & Tookie First there's the un-American Broadcasting Company. For the past few days, as celeb shrieking...

The procedure for executing a prisoner in San Quentin, the only prison in California with a death chamber, is bound by rigid rules dictating when and how each act must be performed -- from the moment the inmate wakes up on his last day of life until the moment he dies. * * * "We try to keep this very professional," said prison spokesman Sgt. Eric Messick. "I can't see it being done any other way -- you have to treat everyone, especially the inmate, with dignity and respect. This is a very somber event." * * * If the...

THEY'RE JUST LOOKING FOR A EXCUSE, NOT A REASON. The California Supreme Court has now had its last say in the case of murderer Tookie Williams. No stay of execution. It's now up to Governor Schwarzenegger. Tookie's supporters are pulling out all of the stops. Now they've even come up with a last-minute witness that can prove Tookie's innocence. Yeah, sure. Don't you just love those "last-minute witness" things? Who is on Tookie's side here? Well, we have pretty much the normal cast of characters. We have the NAACP, of course, and we have actors and rappers. There's also the...

Lethal journey draws to a close By John Simerman CONTRA COSTA TIMES Stanley "Tookie" Williams will spend most of his remaining daytime hours with visitors inside a Plexiglas cubicle, wearing waist restraints and handcuffs and under constant watch. About 6 p.m., a special security team will escort him from North Segregation, the original death row, to an annex building, and one of two "death watch cells" adjacent to the green execution chamber. There, he can watch TV or listen to the radio, possibly tuning in as supporters gather for a mass vigil expected outside the prison's East Gate. The Crips...

Stanley Tookie Williams, the convicted murderer, has done an impressive amount of stuff since his incarceration in 1981. He has written an autobiography plus eight books for children about gangs and gang violence. He has spoken eloquently about the destruction that drugs and gangs can cause. He has rallied an impressive array of people to the cause of his appeal for clemency from his death sentence. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize any number of times. His supporters say he has turned his life around. He has become a force for good. He merits special consideration because...

You'd die for a table at the most exclusive diner in all California LA Notebook by Chris Ayres THE MOST exclusive restaurant in California is located a few miles north of San Francisco and has been in business since 1852. It is exclusive because patrons can request in advance exactly what they want to eat, thus avoiding the inconvenience of a menu, and because it has served only seven customers — yes, seven — in the past decade. There is, however, one significant downside to the cachet of eating at this establishment: the after-dinner cocktail is served in a syringe,...

Six months after a 15-year-old boy was slain by thugs over a $200 iPod, a second alleged Crip gang member is charged with his murder — as the boy's devoted parents vow to help keep a Brooklyn neighborhood safe from gangs. "People are afraid, but they're starting to come forward. I'm thankful there's been a break in the case," said father Errol Rose, 53. On July 2, Christopher Rose was on his way to a Fourth of July pool party in Pennsylvania. He was listening to a friend's iPod while walking two blocks away from his mother's home in East...

KFI in Los Angeles just announced that the California Supreme Court has denied Tookie Williams appeal for an emergency stay. Let's see if KFI got it right this time.

CBSNEWS.COM Los Angeles Dec. 11, 2005 (AP) A lawyer for convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams asked the state Supreme Court to stay his execution, saying the Crips gang co-founder should have been allowed to argue that someone else killed one of his four alleged victims. Attorney Verna Wefald filed a petition Saturday challenging the validity of the four convictions and death sentences given in 1981 to Williams, who is scheduled to die Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison. She also filed an emergency request seeking a stay, the Los Angeles Times reported. Williams' lawyers also have asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger...

Officer remembers Tookie as `cold-blooded killer' By Sandy Mazza Staff Writer Today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a clemency hearing for condemned murderer Stanley Tookie Williams. He will hear from prosecutors and those who believe Williams is a changed man. The officers who helped bring him in saw a different Williams. Below is their story. Guns drawn, a small team of Los Angeles County homicide investigators waited out the night inside a crowded house in Los Angeles, eager for their suspect to walk through the door. Exhausted but alert with adrenaline, Gene Hetzel, then a 39-year-old detective, watched for the doorknob...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spent more than an hour with lawyers for Stanley Tookie Williams and prosecutors pushing for his death sentence Thursday, hearing final arguments before he makes a decision on Williams' bid to avoid lethal injection. Schwarzenegger now has fewer than four days to weigh Williams' past as a convicted four-time murderer and gang leader against his present work as an anti-gang crusader. Williams, who has written eight children's books from his Death Row cell, is pleading for clemency based on his value as "a unique voice'' against street violence, one of his attorneys said. The hearing,...

Several gang members in Los Angeles, some known for statements of braggadocio, said they are going to riot if the scheduled execution takes place. “Took die, the city fry,” said Raymond “The Hatchet Man” Locket, a member of the West Side Harlem Crips, who says he knew Tookie back in the day. “That’s the word on the streets.”

ENTIRE STORY: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13352740.htm SACRAMENTO - Death penalty opponents rallied outside the Capitol on Thursday as lawyers for Stanley Tookie Williams took their case to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a final effort to spare the Crips gang founder from execution. A group of about 75 demonstrators chanted, "Love life, save Stan's life," as the governor met behind closed doors with defense lawyers and prosecutors to weigh the fate of a man condemned for four 1979 murders who claims he turned his life around on death row. Clemency, which would commute a death sentence to life without parole, is likely the only...

PHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals court has agreed to hear an appeal from death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther convicted in the 1981 murder of a white Philadelphia police officer. In the most significant ruling in the case in four years, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it would consider three of Abu-Jamal's claims. Abu-Jamal, 51, a one-time radio reporter, was convicted in 1982 of shooting Daniel Faulkner, 25, after the officer pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in 1981. Abu-Jamal's attorney, Robert Bryan, did not immediately return a call for comment. Prosecutor Hugh Burns called the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should not grant clemency to death row inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Nor should he deny it. The governor should shelve the clemency hearing scheduled for today. He should call a press conference instead. He should say that in listening to the debate, he has come to understand that the challenge before him is not to parse the singular circumstances of one man's life. It is to tackle the much larger and more relevant issue that has been pushed to the surface by the Tookie Williams case: the public's conflicted feelings and growing questions about the death penalty...