Save Stanley Tookie Williams

author : Marco Rosaire Rossi topic : executions | Stanley Tookie Williams

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Stories of true redemption are rare in our criminal justice system. For that reason alone, those stories ought to be publicly recognized and the redeemed characters ought to be celebrated. That isn't the case. The tragedy of our criminal justice system is that in the majority of cases it will follow punishment through to the end regardless of whether the punishment is rational, just, or compassionate. That is the tragedy of our criminal justice system, and it could be the tragedy of Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

Williams (who mostly goes by the name Tookie) is different from other death row inmates. First, his life as a criminal is notorious. He was the one of the co-founders of the Crips street gang in 1971 at age sixteen. The Crips grew into one of the largest criminal organizations in the nation throughout the eighties and nineties. Their only rivals for street domination were their counterparts, the Bloods, and the police. Violence between these three forces shattered ghetto communities. In 1981, the law caught up with Tookie. He was accused murdering a convenience store clerk execution-style, and the owners of a motel and their daughter during a robbery. The jury found him guilty during his trial, and he was sentenced to death row. That is where he has stayed for the last twenty-four years.

Second, Tookie is even better known as a peacemaker. Tookie went through a dramatic transformation eight years after his conviction. He dedicated his life to non-violence and sought ways to end the gang warfare he helped create. He has been extraordinarily productive despite his prison restrictions. He has written nine highly acclaimed children's books that educate young people on the gang violence, and a memoir entitled Blue Rage, Black Redemption. He also developed a peace protocol that helps street gangs transition from criminality to community organizing. In May 2004, the Bloods and Crips used Tookie's protocol to form a truce and end the violence. He also started an international peer mentoring program called the Internet Project for Street Peace. This work has led to his nomination for the Nobel peace prize five times and the Nobel prize in literature four times. His memoir was nominated for the James Madison Book award and was turned into the television movie, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story starring Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx. Educators, parents, governmental officials, social workers, and law enforcement have all praised his work. Some have estimated that Tookie has saved the lives of up to 150,000 young people. He was even recognized by President Bush when he received a presidential award for volunteer work with young people.

These remarkable achievements would convince most people to grant Tookie clemency, or at least take him off death row -- but that isn't the case. On October 11, 2005, Tookie exhausted his last appeal before the United States Supreme Court on getting a new trial based on racial discrimination. He is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on December 13th this year. The only person who can legally stay the execution is Governor Schwarzenegger.

This situation has sparked action on behalf of Tookie. Recently, a celebrity letter that included the signatures of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Danny Glover, Bonnie Raitt, Mario Cuomo, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and many others was sent to Governor Schwarzenegger. The letter is accompanied by an on-line petition that has already attracted over 50,000 signatures from around the globe. The supporters of Tookie have asserted that the evidence confirming his conviction is nebulous. Tookie has admitted to many crimes, but he has always claimed his innocence for the four murders. Tookie's lawyers are currently trying to get another trial for him based on new evidence that puts the former forensic test in serious doubt. The California Supreme Court hasn't ruled on whether it will hear the case. Critics of the conviction have also claimed that the witnesses who testified against Tookie were unreliable sources -- including "a jailhouse snitch with a record of perjury." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stated in its 2002 ruling that some of the witnesses had "less-than-clean backgrounds and incentives to lie in order to obtain leniency from the state in either charging or sentencing."

The most disturbing aspects of Tookie's trial were the tactics used by the prosecution. The prosecutor has been accused of utilizing racist strategies and stereotypes to get a conviction from the jury. All potential jurors who were black were removed from the trial during the jury selection. The prosecutor also compared Tookie to a "Bengal tiger" and insinuated that South Central Los Angeles was a jungle. It was the hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would find this behavior by the prosecutor unconstitutional - a violation of the 5th, 6th, and14th Amendments - but instead it ruled in the favor of the state of California. Civil rights organizations considered the ruling by the Supreme Court to be a major setback.

The story of Stanley "Tookie" Williams involves two major crimes. The first is the four people who were brutally murdered over twenty years ago. As new evidence emerges, it becomes less likely that Tookie committed those acts. That is in the past, and unfortunately cannot be changed. The second is Tookie's execution. That hasn't happened yet, and it may be prevented if people act swiftly and thoughtfully.

To help save Tookie, contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and request clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. The information is below:

Contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Fax: 916-445-4633

Phone: 916-445-2841

Email: governor@governor.ca.gov

Write: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

State Capitol Building

Sacramento, CA 95814

To find out more visit:

http://www.savetookie.org

To sign an on-line petition for Tookie's clemency go to: http://www.petitiononline.com/stw4804/petition.html