Warm and Tingly Inside
Between all the law texts, syllabi, readers, commercial outlines, personal outlines, Holy Bibles, Torahs, Korans, and 10 Commandments Granite Statues that are sprawled out on my table, I can't seem to find the remote for the TV. Unfortunately this means, I'm stuck with watching the local news. The lead story was about the Cal. Sup. Ct.'s rejection of a last minute appeal by Tookie Williams a little over 24 hours before he is set to be executed. The anchor then detailed Williams' schedule for the day tomorrow. As he went through I felt nauseous.
Let me be clear, I don't know anything about the merits of his conviction. And I'm also not advocating that we free anyone who has a book deal. But that there is a process to lead an individual to his death on our behalf makes me sick.
Let me be clear, I don't know anything about the merits of his conviction. And I'm also not advocating that we free anyone who has a book deal. But that there is a process to lead an individual to his death on our behalf makes me sick.
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 10:12 PM
16 Comments:
So then you would prefer no process at all?
i'm with ya, armen. killing people is wrong. for everyone. we ought to know better.
Yep...I'm all for the whole stoning anyone who says "Jehova" thing. More seriously, I think what got to me most was the "6 PM, Williams is scheduled to have his last meal."
I suppose we could switch from our domestic procedures to our international model. I believe that consists mainly of indiscriminate killing in whatever manner is most convenient.
And good luck to Tookie! Let's hope the Governator does the smart thing today and that Tookie has the opportunity to negotiate many more peace treaties between gangs around the world.
By the way Armen, Tookie says he is not taking his last meal because he doesn't want to accept the charity of the institution that is going to kill him. Here are the gory details of what may happen if the shit goes down:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/12/PREP.TMP.
Also, here is a really messed up story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/WNT/story?id=1395059.
This ABC reporter got volunteered by ABC to witness the execution WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT! Merry Christmas Brian Rooney, you get to watch a man die.
The Governor has denied the request for clemency.
http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/pdf/press_release_2005/Williams_Clemency_Decision.pdf
We should have long since done away with the death penalty.
I found the Governor's statement re: the denial interesting. I posted on this over at my blog, mainly in regards to the whole part about how the people Williams' dedicated his book to was a factor that worked against him.
For a rundown of his last day, see the link at boalt.blogspot.com
I think the poster at the other boalt blog got it right.
"However you feel about California's DP, if you don't feel profoundly disgusted reading this account of Tookie's last day, you truly have no soul."
It's the same Chronicle link that is pasted above.
Watching the official witness discuss the execution, I must say I am REALLY pissed off that Rita Cosby is among those in there. I really don't understand aan offical state witness throwing in lines like, "Well I've interviewed Tookie Williams three times." And that disgusting voice of hers.
Other than that, again, I'll just echo Chavez.
New winner. Adam Housley of Fox News. "All the courts have rejected this, including the Ninth Circuit, widely considered the most liberal and controversial court here." Huh? Controversial? You're using an execution to fill Fox's liberal bashing quota?
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The only people who deserve to rest in peace, Mr. Chavez, are Tookie’s victims.
Tookie’s first known victim was 26-year-old Albert Owens, a military veteran and a father of two. Tookie fired two shotgun blasts into his back as he lay prone on the floor. Owens's only transgression was that he tried to make an honest living as a night clerk at the 7-Eleven Tookie decided to rob. In prison, Tookie repeatedly laughed at the groaning sounds Owens made as he lay dying.
Then came Yen-I Yang, his wife, Tsai-Shai Yang, and their daughter, Yee-Chen Lin. The family ran a motel in Los Angeles. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found Yen-I Yang, soaked in blood, gasping for air and “gurgling,” with his lungs full of blood. Tookie shot Yen-I in the chest and abdomen. Tsai-Shai Yang was also still alive and gasping for air. Tookie forced her to kneel down before he shot her in the back. Yee-Chen was dead when deputies arrived. Tookie shot her in the face with a shotgun at close range.
We do not know how many others Tookie murdered. According to his own memoir, he beat people, robbed them, even shot at them, but says he never stuck around long enough to see if they lived or died. He didn't care.
This morning, the State of California put down a monster. The only shameful and embarrassing aspect of this situation is that we fed him for a quarter of a century.
Brilliant. Death by starvation. Any other Stalinist suggestions? I certainly hope you didn't put your best foot forward right off the bat. Because you know you still need guards to watch a starving inmate. And with those pension plans, those guards are not cheap.
I think Boalt Action is against pension plans too.
While my feelings about the death penalty are quite conflicting, if anyone deserves to be executed it's Tookie. You can't atone for your sins by writing a bunch of children's books.
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