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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to Consider Clemency |
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would consider granting clemency to convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize reports Reuters
Last week, Hiphop Star Snoop Dogg, once a member of the Crips gang, called for authorities to spare "Tookie."
Challenging that stance, California law-enforcement officials, believe Williams is a brutal and unrepentant murderer who deserves death by lethal injection as scheduled for December 13 for killing four people in 1979 during petty robberies reports Seattle Times
The governor said he would meet Dec. 8 in a private hearing with Williams' lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved.
Schwarzenegger has the authority to commute a death sentence to life without parole, but he is not obligated to hold a hearing. In Schwarzenegger's case, he decides clemency requests on a "case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said.
"The governor reviewed the material in the case this week," Thompson said late Friday. "He decided the best route is a private clemency hearing, so he can hear directly from counsel."
Williams, 51, faces a lethal injection on Dec. 13 for the 1979 slayings of a Whittier convenience store clerk and three people at a Pico Rivera motel. He has maintained his innocence and has asked the California Supreme Court to reopen his case, alleging shoddy forensics wrongly connected him to three of the murders. The Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the petition.
"Stanley "Tookie" Williams is not a regular guy, he's an inspiration," Snoop Dogg said. "All I want to say to the governor is it's about keeping this man alive because his voice needs to be heard."
Williams, who has written a series of books warning youth about the dangers of gangs, has won over high-profile supporters including Jamie Foxx.
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