12.12.05
On December 8th, 2005, the attorney for Stanley Tookie Williams III argued against the District Attorney's office before California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency against the death penalty in Williams's case. Williams, along with Raymond Washington, founded the Los Angeles Crips in 1971; Williams was later convicted of the murders of Albert Owens (in one robbery), Tsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang, and Yee Chen Lin (in a spearate robbery) in 1979, despite the fact that only primitive forensics linked a weapon used in three of the murders to a shotgun registered to Williams.
Meanwhile, Williams has spent his time in prison writing children's books that advocate non-violence and alternatives to gangs, his autobiography -- which was adapted into the 2004 Jamie Foxx film Redemption -- and a public letter apologizing for his role in the creation of the Crips; in 2004, Williams brokered a peace agreement -- the Tookie Protocol for Peace -- for what had been one of the deadliest gang wars in the country, between the Bloods and the Crips throughout California and Newark, New Jersey. It is also reported, though unconfirmed, that Williams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 2001; he has yet to win, and if his execution by lethal injection goes forward at 12:01 A.M. of Tuesday, December 13th, he never will because the Peace Prize is not awarded posthumously.
On December 11th, the state Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution for Stanley Williams, meaning that Williams will be executed early Tuesday unless Governor Schwartzenegger grants him clemency or a last-ditch federal appeal succeeds. It's unfathomable to me that a man who has done so much toward the betterment of Mankind is going to be murdered by the state of California for a crime of which he convicted on only shaky circumstantial evidence. Of course, Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly have been rotting in prison for 12 years after being convicted of a triple-homicide that was actually committed by the stepfather of one of the victims, so we can already see what a joke the American "justice system" really is.
Today, California governor Arnold Schwartzenegger denied clemency to Stanley Williams, claiming that "without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption." Presuming that Williams actually committed the murders for which he's about to executed -- which hasn't been adequately proven -- it appears that Schwarzenegger doesn't view 25 years in prison, children's books that advocate non-violence and alternatives to gangs, six consecutive Nobel Peace Prize nominations, and one of the most monumental peace agreements in the urban history of this nation to be "atonement." What he seems to be forgetting is that he can simply commute Williams' sentence from death to life without the possibility of parole if he doesn't think the 51-year-old man is rehabilitated.
Unfortunately, he also seems to think that "the possible irregularities in Williams' trial have been thoroughly and carefully reviewed by the courts, and there is no reason to disturb the judicial decisions that uphold the jury's decisions that he is guilty of these four murders and should pay with his life." Yes, for a crime that no one even sufficiently proved he committed. But, as Williams' defense attorney Peter Fleming Jr. so eloquently posited, "if Stanley Williams does not merit clemency, what meaning does clemency retain in this state?"
Let's also face one ugly fact about the death penalty: it's racist. I don't mean the kind of racism of which an ignorant redneck is guilty when he yells a invective at a black man. I'm talking about the more insidious band of backdoor racism that is allowed to go on unrectified in this country every day. Statistically speaking, when a black man is suspected of a crime, he is far more likely than a white man to be eventually charged with that crime; when a black man is charged with a crime, he is far less likely to be able to afford adequate legal counsel; thus, a black defendant is far more likely than a white defendant to be convicted of a crime for which he has been charged; and when a black defendant is convicted of a violent crime, he is far more likely than a white defendant to receive the death penalty. Thus we see that the death penalty is clearly tilted toward black men in a classic case of backdoor racism. Those are not my opinions; those are mathematical facts.
But let's pretend, for the sake of argument, that Stanley Tookie Williams III actually did murder four people in 1979; he still doesn't deserve to die. Not even if we taken into account all of the people who died as a result of gang violence that involved the Crips. How anyone can lay that on Mr. Williams is beyond me; following that logic, the parents of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris should be held accountable for the murders their sons committed at Columbine High School. Dylan and Eric's parents are certainly more directly responsible for their sons actions than Mr. Williams is for the actions of anyone who joined his gang after he denounced it.
If we are going to hold Mr. Williams accountable for the deaths that have resulted from his actions, should we not hold George W. Bush equally accountable for the 32,140 deaths that have resulted directly from his actions? President Bush announced today that roughly 30,000 Iraqis and 2,140 American troops have been killed since the March 2003 conquering of Iraq. Those deaths are the direct results of actions that the President knew were going to result in death: the President declared war, much more openly than Mr. Williams, and against international sanctions. So holding Mr. Williams accountable for the actions of the Crips is selectively punishing a murky philosophical issue.
But let us engage in a cerebral exercise by pretending that we believe, for just one moment, that Stanley Williams actually did kill four people in 1979. What he has done in the time since then, what he continues to do to this day -- all of the steps he has taken toward peace, and disarming the gangs in which he took part as a teenager, and disuading children from embracing violence as an acceptable means of reaction -- are atonement enough to grant him life in prison instead of the death penalty. If he is guilty of multiple-homicide, then he should of course be punished; he should be separated from the rest of law-abiding society for the protection of that society. Of course, we must, for this one hypothetical moment, ignore his lack of remorse for the murders because, if he is innocent -- as he most probably is -- he would, of course, not express remorse; one does not express remorse for an act that one did not commit.
If we want to pretend that no one has the right to take the life of another person, then the government has to be the epitome of that; to answer one murder with another completely undermines the principle of honoring life. If a remorseless sociopath like Charles Manson can sit in prison for the rest of his life and not have that life cut short despite the severity of the crimes that he admitted to having committed, then it is unthinkable for the state to execute a penitent humanitarian who has realized his mistake (creating a gang) and is working ceaselessly to correct it.
At the very least, Mr. Williams' case needs to be reopened -- which the California Supreme Court has refused to do twice -- so that modern forensic science can examine whatever actual evidence exists in an attempt to finally establish Mr. Williams' guilt or innocence. It is truly unthinkable that the government is about to murder a man without proving that he committed the crimes for which he is about to die beyond a shadow of a doubt. And if forensic evidence proves that Stanley Williams killed four people in 1979, remand him to prison for the rest of his life so that he can continue to work toward redemption for those actions.
After all, no one has the right to take the life of another person.
UPDATE: Stanley Tookie Williams III was pronounced dead at 12:35 A.M. after a 12-minute delay caused by an ability to find a vein into which the trinity of poisons could be pumped. Mr. Williams is the 12th man to die by the hand of California since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977.
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