Cali Gov Considers Clemency for Tookie
| Cali Gov Considers Clemency for Tookie |
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| Written by Robert ID2143 |
| Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:22 |
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With various hip-hop, and rap artist plus actors, civil rights grass root movements and government officials speaking out for clemency for San Quentin State Prison Death Row inmate Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams, it seems their voices may be being heard. Recently well known Long Beach native, hip-hop / rap artist Snoop Dogg lead off a rally on November 18th, outside the walls of San Quentin Prison in California for Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams. Rallies are planned throughout the state in support of clemency for death row inmate Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now says he will consider granting clemency to, former co-founder and leader of the Crips who is now on death row, Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams. As governor, Schwarzenegger has the authority to commute a death sentence to life without parole. Stanley "Tookie" Williams founded the Los Angeles-based gang, the Crips. He faces death on Dec. 13 for the 1979 slayings of four people. ‘Tookie’ Williams has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers met privately with Gov. Schwarzenegger at the Gov.’s Sacramento office and will meet with them again the first week of Dec. Tookie Williams has been nominated five times for a Nobel Peace Prize and four times for the Nobel Prize for literature for his series of children's books and international peace efforts aimed at curtailing youth gang violence. Recently Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote on Tookies President's Call to Service Award presented to Tookie, which was accompanied by a laudatory letter from President Bush. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Tookie's appeal to investigate the racism and discrimination at the heart of his case, as well as Tookie's innocence issues. One issue highlighted the fact that the prosecutor in Tookie's original case removed all of the Black jurors from the jury, leaving an all-white jury to deliberate his case. During Stan's trial, this prosecutor made racially-coded remarks during his closing argument, comparing Stan during the trial to a Bengal tiger in the zoo and stating that a black community - South Central Los Angeles - was equivalent to the natural "habitat" of a Bengal Tiger. For more and updated information visit Tookie’s web site at - www.tookie.com |
