8 Days Left For Tookie Williams
The New York Times has an interesting op-ed on this case:
If Governor Schwarzenegger were to allow this prisoner to go to his death, he would suffer little political damage. Tookie Williams fits no one's definition of innocence. He was convicted of murdering four people - a 7-Eleven clerk shot twice in the back during a holdup, and three members of a family during a robbery at a motel - and as a leader of the Crips he set in motion a criminal enterprise that destroyed countless lives.But his notoriety, his former viciousness, is precisely what gives him credibility in his current work - persuading young people to avoid gangs. His claim for clemency rests on the good work he is performing in prison, and that is a decision that the court system is not designed to handle. Rather, it is up to Governor Schwarzenegger to decide whether allowing Mr. Williams to continue living behind bars might better serve society's interests than sending him to his death - that is, to decide whether that older conception of clemency still has a place in our culture. (As he weighs this decision, Mr. Schwarzenegger might consider that the last California governor to grant clemency to a death-row inmate was his political hero, Ronald Reagan.)
There is still time to get involved with this case.
Posted by Angela at 05:52 PM
Comments
It is apparent that Mr. Williams has used his time in prison most wonerfully by attempting to help our children understand the consequences of gang activity; however, if he is going to use himself as model then he needs to be the example.
He's done good work but the fact is that he has killed and the consequence, amongs other things, is death. Doing a good deed does not exempt you from a crime. Especially one that had been repeated until you were caught.
Posted by: Linda Reid at December 9, 2005 01:58 PM
One problem after you kill him who's gonna stop the train..When the engineer is trying to apply the brakes..If you kill the engineer and the train keeps going how do you stop a runaway train. The answer is you can't........Don't do it your condemiming the youth to gangs...He has a lot of political pull that no govenor does.
Posted by: Sheldon M davis (NAT) at August 25, 2006 02:12 PM
jonny
Posted by: jonny at November 5, 2006 05:36 PM
