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Stanley “Tookie” Williams Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Execution
Members of Black Riders, a black militant group, salute during a news conference to support clemency for convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 in downtown Los Angeles. As many as 35 demonstrators representing clergy, black youth leaders and death penalty opponents marched from City Hall to the Governor’s office.The ASSociated Press has Justices Refuse Clemency for Crips Founder
The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to halt the scheduled execution of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and whose supporters claim has redeemed himself. In a last-ditch legal move, defense attorneys petitioned the high court earlier this month, alleging shoddy forensic testing and other errors may have wrongly sent Williams to San Quentin State Prison, where he is scheduled die by injection Dec. 13.
Lawyers for Williams, author of a series of anti-gang books for children, wanted to re-exam ballistics evidence that showed his shotgun was used to kill three people during a 1979 motel robbery.
The defense claimed the forensic evidence was “junk science,” but prosecutors said that allegation was “based upon innuendo, supposition and the patent bias of (Williams’) purported expert.”
“The extraordinary relief Williams sought is reserved for those cases which have legal merit,” said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The high court voted 4-2 without comment to deny the inmate’s petition, with Chief Justice Ronald George voting to reopen the case.
The California Supreme Court, the federal trial and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court have already ruled against him in earlier appeals, which has set the stage for the execution on December 13th.
Only clemency which would commute his sentence to life in prison without parole (granted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) remains as a viable remedy to Tookie’s execution.
The clemency hearing is scheduled for December 8th.
What about the four murdered victims, Governor?
Williams has had his run of 24 years of legal appeals and NOT ONE has been successful in overturning his death sentence.
The Governor would be wise to hold the clemency hearing, listen to the arguments, uphold the decisions of the trial jury and the appellate courts and ENFORCE THE LAW.
But, only if he wishes to have any further political future……..
Stay Tuned…….
Previously:
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NO REMORSEStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Tookie’s “Human Angelâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Isn’t it The Truth By Cobb
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger to Hold Private Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger MULLS ClemencyStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: FLAP Over “Tookie Must Dieâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger Plead for LIFE
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: SNOOP DOGG BEGS SCHWARZENEGGER FOR CLEMENCY
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California’s Life-and-Death Politics
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Death Warrant Signed
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips
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Hillary Clinton Watch: Finish the Iraq War
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, and Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson get together before the groundbreaking ceremony begins for the new Goldman Sachs world headquarters, in lower Manhattan, Tuesday Nov. 29, 2005, in New York.The ASSociated Press has Sen. Clinton Defends Iraq War Vote
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her vote to authorize war in Iraq amid growing unease among liberal Democrats who could determine the potential 2008 presidential candidate’s future.
“I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility for the false assurances, faulty evidence and mismanagement of the war,” the New York senator said in a lengthy letter to thousands of people who have written her about the war.
At the same time, she said the United States must “finish what it started” in Iraq.
Good luck with raising money from the Looney Left, Hillary.
And, now what about Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, John Kerry and Joe Biden?
The Quotes:
“Based on the information that we have today, Congress never would have been asked to give the president authority to use force against Iraq”
“Given years of assurances that the war was nearly over and that the insurgents were in their ‘last throes,” this administration was either not being honest with the American people or did not know what was going on in Iraq”
“It is time for the president to stop serving up platitudes and present us with a plan for finishing this war with success and honor”
“America has a big job to do now. We must set reasonable goals to finish what we started and successfully turn over Iraqi security to Iraqis”
She stopped short of saying her vote was a mistake, the political path chosen by two other potential Democratic candidates – former vice presidential candidate John Edwards and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
Stay tuned…….
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Pat Clarey, Arnold’s Chief of Staff Resigns
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Chief of Staff, Pat Clarey.The Sacramento Bee has Governor to appoint Democrat
Susan Kennedy, a staunch Democrat and former aide to recalled Gov. Gray Davis, will be named today as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new chief of staff.
For Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to announce the appointment at a 2 p.m. Capitol press conference, the move is the strongest signal yet of what aides have said will be a major reshuffling of his senior staff. Some of those exiting, such as Pat Clarey, who Kennedy is replacing, planned to leave around this time anyway.
From: Pat Clarey
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 9:01 AM
To: All Governor’s Staff
Subject: Thank you to allToday I am announcing that I am stepping down on January 1 as Chief of Staff to the Governor. This has been a decision that has been a long time coming. Earlier this year I discussed with the Governor my desire to leave at the end of this year and the time has come. I want to personally thank each and every one of you for your hard work and dedication to this Governor. I am gratified at the success that we have realized as a team.
The most important ingredient to the achievement of the Governor’s successes is assembling a talented and dedicated staff. I could not be more proud of the caliber of your work and dedication. You serve the Governor well every day and I appreciate the tremendous amount of support that you have all shown to me along the way.
I would also like to welcome Susan Kennedy as the new Chief of Staff. Susan’s appointment will be announced later today. I have known and worked with Susan for many years and have a great deal of admiration for her commitment to public service. She knows and understands California’s issues and challenges and will be able to step in and continue to lead the staff to support the vision that the Governor has for a better California. I look forward to transitioning with Susan during the month of December and am confident that it will be a seamless transition.
Susan will be regularly in the horseshoe starting today. I encourage you to introduce yourself and welcome her.
Again, I thank you all for your support.
The fireworks nee speculation about Schwarzenegger’s willingness, competence and ability to win re-election in 2006 is only beginning.
But, then again, Flap said Arnold was toast a month ago.
Michelle Malkin has CALIF. QUAKE: ARNOLD TURNS TO THE DARK SIDE
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Stanley “Tookie” Williams Watch: NO REMORSE
MSNBC has an exclusive interview with Stanley Tookey Williams: Death Row inmate and founder of Crips street gang talks with Rita Cosby.
Stanley “Tookie” Williams founded the Crips street gang in 1971 with a high school friend, and soon the gang and its main rivals, the Bloods, were terrorizing Los Angeles. In 1974 alone, the gang wars claimed 70 lives, and by the end of the decade, it’s believed LA had 30,000 active gang members.
In 1979, Williams was arrested for killing four people, a convenience store owner and the owners of a family-run motel. To this day, Williams claims he is not responsible for the murders, but he was found guilty and sentenced to death.
• Death row interview
Nov 28: Rita Cosby has an exclusive death row interview with Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the “Crips” gang, who is slated to die December 13th for a Murder conviction. He maintains he is innocent.MSNBC
In this interview Tookie refuses to express ANY REMORSE for his victims. He maintains he is NOT GUILTY.
Counsel for Williams claims in the “Petition for Executive Clemency†that:
“What the District Attorney may not acknowledge is the nature of the evidence against Stanley Williams, who has always asserted his innocence . . .[t]he case rested on the testimony of claimed
accomplices and admitted informants, including a notorious jailhouse informant, all of whom were facing substantial prison time and even death for various offenses, and all of whom received
either freedom or vastly reduced sentences for their testimony. (Petition for Executive Clemency, Dated November 8, 2005, 9).”This statement is factually inaccurate. The People’s case rested on strong physical evidence, eyewitnesses, and a series of incriminating admissions made by Williams himself.
The following is a summary of some of the evidence in this case, as well as the witnesses that
testified against Williams. It was this evidence that led the trial judge to deny the defensemotion to dismiss, to deny the defense motion for a new trial, to affirm the jury’s verdict of death, and to finally conclude that the evidence:“Established highly aggravating circumstances in that the defendant (Williams) shot gunned and killed three people in one robbery, and a fourth person at the other robbery. The victims, who were
defenseless, and offered no resistance, were killed with blasts from defendant’s shotgun for the purpose of preventing the victims from ever being witnesses against the defendant These
four killings were deliberate, premeditated, and with malice aforethought, as well as being robbery murders…the defendantused force and violence against the four victims for its own
sake. (TT 3088-3089). [Emphasis added].Listen to the entire puff-piece Sad Sister interview by Rita Crosby.
Does it sound to the reader like a psych or sociopath conning someone?
Does it sound like a redeemed individual who is truely sorry for the heinous crimes he committed?
No, Tookie says he is innocent – after 24 years of legal appeals.
Sorry – Tookie deserves the BIG JAB on December the 13th.
If Governor Schwarzenegger doesn’t feel remorse………
Previously:
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Tookie’s “Human Angelâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Isn’t it The Truth By Cobb
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger to Hold Private Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger MULLS ClemencyStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: FLAP Over “Tookie Must Dieâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger Plead for LIFE
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: SNOOP DOGG BEGS SCHWARZENEGGER FOR CLEMENCY
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California’s Life-and-Death Politics
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Death Warrant Signed
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips
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Cindy Sheehan Watch: Photos Falsely Implied Her Book Signing was a Flop
Editor and Publisher has Cindy Sheehan Claims Photos Falsely Implied Her Book Signing was a Flop
Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and her book publisher are upset about Associated Press and Reuters photos that allegedly presented a misleading impression of her book signing last weekend in Texas.
Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, gained wide fame last summer in an antiwar protest near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, and then in a march in Washington, D.C. She returned to Crawford last week for a Thanskgiving protest. Her new book, “Not One More Mother’s Child,†had just been published, and her publisher organized a book signing in a large tent in Crawford on Saturday.
Photos of the event, carried widely on the Web, and then picked up by conservative blogs, seemed to imply that the book signing was a bust. The photos showed Sheehan looking dejected, sitting at a table, with no one in the tent except for a couple of photographers. The AP caption simply read: “Anti-war activist CindySheehan waits for people to show up at her book signing near President Bush’s ranch on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 in Crawford, Texas.â€
Well, what does it look like to the reader?
Here is another photo……..
The Washington Post, which carried Evan Vucci’s AP photo, noted that at a protest the same day Sheehan had addressed a crowd of only about 100. “In the morning,†the Post observed, “Sheehan signed copies of her new book, being published this week, for an even smaller crowd,†although it cited bad weather as a possible factor.
Here is the link to the Washington Post piece.
Cindy Sheehan and her minions complain:But in a statement today, Sheehan accused “right-wing†sites of “spreading a false story that nobody bought my book at Camp Casey on Saturday. That is not true, I sold all 100 copies and got writer’s cramp signing them. Photos were taken of me before the people got in line to have me sign the book. We made $2000 for the peace house.â€
Her publisher, Arnie Kotler at Koa Books, meanwhile released a letter to her supporters, charging that “AP and Reuters posted photos – I can’t imagine why – of Cindy sitting at the book table between signings, rather than while someone was at the table. And now the smear websites are circulating an article, with these photos, that Cindy gave a signing and nobody came. It’s simply not true…. the benefit books signing in Crawford, Texas on November 26, 2005 was well attended and a huge success.
And the ASSociated Press responds:
“Photographer Evan Vucci, queried about the incident today said that he was present at the book signing from about 10 a.m. to about 11 a.m. During that time, he said, people were coming in to have their books signed in small groups of a few at a time.
“At the time the photos were taken ‘maybe 5 people had come in,’ Vucci says, and Sheehan was waiting for more to stop by, which they did individually as well as in very small groups. Therefore the wording of the caption is accurate in that Sheehan was waiting for people to show up at her signing.”
A small group no matter how Cindy Sheehan SPINS it.
Previously:
Cindy Sheehan Watch: Book Signing (?) in Crawford
Iraq War Watch: THE NOBLE CAUSE
Cindy Sheehan Watch: She’s BACK……..
Iraq War Watch: Protesters Arrested Near Bush’s Ranch
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Mexico High Court Changes Extradition Rules
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects facing life in prison can be extradited, overturning a four-year-old ban that had prevented many of the country’s most notorious criminals from being sent to the United States.The ASSociated Press has Mexican high court loosens extradition rules.
Ruling could enable U.S. to bring alleged drug lords to trial
A 1978 treaty with the United States allows Mexico to deny extradition if a person faces the death penalty — a restriction that still stands under Tuesday’s ruling. In 2001 the Supreme Court also blocked extradition of suspects facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Capital punishment has been banned by Mexico’s constitution since June and was only rarely applied for decades before that. Life sentences are also rare.
This is a common sense ruling by the Mexican High Court. Mexico does not wish to be a haven for murderers and child molesters who may prey on their own people anymore than the United States.
The United States does not want to see Mexican drug cartel members escaping American justice for poisoning our society or Mexican nationals murdering our citizens then fleeing to a Mexican refuge/sanctuary.
The federal attorney general’s office is considering U.S. extradition requests for Benjamin Arellano Felix, the reputed head of the Tijuana-based cocaine- and marijuana-smuggling syndicate bearing his family’s name.
U.S. prosecutors also are seeking to try Osiel Cardenas, who authorities say ran the Gulf cartel and was responsible for moving thousands of tons of cocaine and other narcotics across the Texas border.
Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles County District Attorney was interviewed on last nights John and Ken show on KFI and stated his office would begin work immediately in prosecuting known cases involving his office. He estimated between 200-300 suspects alone in Los Angeles County and 800 in the State of California.
In California, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley praised the ruling.
“This is a landmark legal decision that clears the way to return murderers to face justice here in the United States, where they committed their crimes,” said Cooley, who estimated that as many as 3,000 murderers have fled the U.S. to Mexico to avoid prosecution. “We’re getting into high gear to take advantage of this favorable decision.”
Time for federal and state prosecutors to get busy.
Stay tuned as these scum are finally brought to justice.
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Mark Steyn to be Honored at The Claremont Institute’s Churchill Dinner – This FRIDAY
The Claremont Institute has Mark Steyn to be Honored at The Claremont Institute’s Churchill Dinner
The Board of Directors of the Claremont Institute is pleased to announce that Mr. Mark Steyn will receive the 2005 Henry Salvatori Prize at our annual dinner in honor of Sir Winston S. Churchill. The event will be held on Friday, December 2, 2005 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Mark Steyn, known for his witty and satirical style, is one of the world’s premier writers on politics and culture. He describes himself on his website as “The One-Man Global Content Provider.” His prolific work and world-wide fan base bear this out. Mr. Steyn’s most recent book is the soon to be released, America Alone: Our Country’s Future as a Lone Warrior. His prior books include Mark Steyn From Head To Toe: An Anatomical Anthology, and The Face of the Tiger. His articles and columns have appeared in periodicals as diverse as the Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, Daily Telegraph, Jerusalem Post, National Review, The Spectator, Chicago Sun-Times, Toronto Globe & Mail, Irish Times, and The New Criterion.
The reception is at 6:00 pm, and Dinner is at 7:00 pm. Individual seating is $250. The Dinner Co-Chair Table is $10,000; Churchill Table, $5,000; and the Sponsor Table, $2,500. Dress is business attire.
Please contact Sandra Dirks at 909-621-6825 for ticket information, or register online.
Flap is going and knows that you will be glad if you go as well……..
See you there…….
Flap and other members of the Bear Flag League will be attending and blogging the event (live, if signal permits).
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
