Thug Life Army

In an allotted 15-minute phone call from San Quentin prison, from his cell, Stanley Tookie Williams spoke with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

51-year-old Stan Tookie Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state of California on December 13^th.

Stanley Tookie Williams'' life now largely rests in the hands of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who has the power to commute the death sentence. On December 8th the governor will meet with Williams" defense team to hear its case for executive clemency.

Hip-hop culture grass roots organizers, hip-hop and rap artists, actors, politicians, and religious leaders have all come out in support for the clemency of Tookie Williams.

This is a very good report that Amy Goodman has put together and the unique opportunity of hearing the case of Tookie in his own words and voice has impact.

You can read, listen to or watch the full interview of Amy Goodman with Stanley Tookie Williams.

Background on Tookie, his case and the interview are all offered on the Democracy Now website.

Everyone who has concerns about the Stan Tookie Williams case or who wants to know more needs to read this interview and better yet listen and watch it.

Here is an excerpt of the Amy Goodman interview with Stanley Tookie Williams from Democracy Now.org. Please go listen or read this interview to hear what is going on with Tookie – in his own words. Visit Domocracy Now .org HERE.

Read more articles on Stan Tookie Williams struggle HERE.

AMY GOODMAN: Thank you for joining us. I know you don''t have much time, so I want to ask why you are petitioning the governor for executive clemency?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: I’m petitioning -- my attorneys are petitioning the governor because I am innocent, but primarily, they''re trying to save my life so that, inevitably, I will be able to prove my innocence.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the crime that you were convicted of? Are you guilty of that crime?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: No, I am not culpable of those crimes. I have been stating that fact from the incipient, from the moment of my arrest. False arrest.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think the jury found you guilty?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: Oh, it was quite easy. It was a paradigm of racism. We are talking about prosecutorial misconduct. We are talking about exclusion of exculpatory evidence. We are talking about I.A.C., which is ineffective assistance of counsel. We are talking about biased jury selection, which results in an all-white jury. We’re talking about involuntary psychotherapic druggings, the misuse of jailhouse and government informants. And last, but not least –

TELEPHONE RECORDING: This call and your telephone number will be recorded and monitored.

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: -- no -- not a shred of tangible evidence, no fingerprints, no crime scenes of bloody boot prints. They didn''t match my boots, nor eyewitnesses. Even the shotgun shells found conveniently at each crime scene didn''t match the shotgun shells that I owned.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you there that night?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: No, I wasn''t. Everything was predicated on hearsay and circumstantial evidence.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you believe the police arrested you?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: Because of my past. Because of my history. I was the co-founder of the Crips. I was someone that, whenever anything happened pretty much in L.A. or in Compton, for instance -- as an example, in Compton, the Compton armory had been broken into and quite a few weapons were missing. Of course, they automatically assumed that I had something to do with it or I knew of someone who broke in there, and I was submitted -- I had to -- I was subjected to two lie detector tests.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet they still arrested you?

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I have been picked up for many strange cases. Some -- I even had Johnnie Cochran had to represent me for a attempted robbery on two individuals who, in a sense, were broker than I was; they were more destitute than I was, but yet, still, I attempted to rob them.