A death warrant was signed on Monday (Oct. 26) that clears the way for Stanley “Tookie” Williams, co-founder of the infamous Crips Gang, to be executed at San Quentin prison in mid-December.
Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders signed the death warrant on October 24. The judge rejected requests by Williams’ attorneys to delay the execution until December 22 to give them more time to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point,” stated Judge Ponders, according to the Associated Press. “That is a long delay in itself and I would hate to add to that delay.”
The December 13 date gives Williams’ attorneys until Nov. 8 to submit a clemency request, a small timeframe. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Williams’ case earlier this month. Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a convenience store worker, in 1979. He also was convicted of killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year.
Williams steadfastly maintains his innocence and his supporters attended the court proceedings to rally on his behalf. Despite his past, the former gang leader has renounced his past lifestyle and penned children’s book. Furthermore, Williams has been nominated for the coveted Nobel Peace prize and actor Jamie Foxx played the convict in “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.”
Williams, 51, and a high school friend Raymond Washington became started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971. The gang, well known for their violent ways, were mostly identified by the blue color worn by their members.
Many of Hip-Hop’s elite, West Coast artists in particular, have often been criticized for glorifying the gangbanging lifestyle and pledging affiliation to the Crips. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, Dub-C, Eazy E, Ice T, Daz, Kurupt, Warren G, Tray Dee, Goldie Loc, Coolio, MC Ren, MC Eiht and a host of others have been affiliated with the Crips.
The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more and more youth gangs joined it; eventually they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1. In response, some of the besieged smaller gangs formed an alliance that later became the Bloods. For decades, there was a bloody rivalry between the Crips and Bloods until a peace treaty was eventually negotiated, ironically by Williams.
Williams is schedule to be executed on December 13. A website, www.savetookie.org/, has been erected to galvanize support him.