The California Supreme Court has wisely refused to re-open the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the famed co-founder of the brutal "Crips" street gang and convicted murderer of four human beings.

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Debra Saunders explains why supporters of clemency for Williams are mistaken about his protested innocence, and why he should pay the ultimate price for the ultimate crime(s).

In the MSNBC transcript of the (Rita) Cosby interview, Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang in South Central Los Angeles when a teenager, said, "I never ordered, nor have I initiated, any killings on my part, period." The not-guilty-of-murder quote flies in the face of the clemency petition's "atonement" claim. To wit: Williams "has accepted responsibility, repented and done whatever he could, from where he is, to atone."

No: Williams has done whatever he could to seem to apologize while dodging any consequences of admitting his crimes. Let me add a few things you may not know: The not all-white jury convicted Williams after his alibi defense crumbled. Also, jurors had learned of Williams' plans for an armed escape from jail. The jury foreman testified that when the guilty verdict was announced, Williams mouthed this threat to the panel: "I'm going to get each and every one of you mother -- ."

Over the years as he appealed his conviction, his appellate lawyers claimed that Williams did not receive adequate counsel because his trial lawyer did not use a diminished capacity defense, as Williams was brain-damaged -- due to drug abuse, mental illness and head injuries. An appellate judge weighed in, "A mental-state defense would have contradicted (the alibi) defense by conceding petitioner's presence at the scenes of the murders." Despite numerous appeals, various courts -- including the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals -- continued to uphold his conviction.

Williams is scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 13, unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger grants clemency. In the 24 years since he was condemned, every procedural dodge attempted by Williams' attorneys has failed, and deservedly. Schwarzenegger yesterday said, "What I want to do is make sure we make the right decisions, because we're dealing here with a person's life." I hope you make the right decision, Governor, because we're also dealing with the four lives taken by this convicted murderer.

TECHNORATI TAGS: STANLEY "TOOKIE" WILLIAMS, DEATH SENTENCE, CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT, SCHWARZENEGGER

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 1, 2005 01:12 PM