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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (264387)	12/13/2005 12:15:31 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 1587223

In Tookie's case, focus on victims San Antonio Express-News ^ \| 12-11-05 \| Jonathan Gurwitz: Let's begin, for a change, with the victims. First came Albert Owens, a 26-year-old clerk at a 7-Eleven store in Whittier, Calif. The gunman fired two shotgun blasts into his back as he lay prone on the floor. In prison, the murderer found great hilarity in the sounds Owens, the father of two, made as life poured out of his body onto a convenience store floor. Then came Yen-I Yang, his wife, Tsai-Shai Yang, and their daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, who ran a motel in Los Angeles. The same gunman shot Yen-I in the chest and abdomen, Tsai-Shai in the back and in the side and Yee-Chen in the face. The assailant fired his shotgun at close range, producing horrific wounds. This is how the Los Angeles County district attorney's office describes the scene encountered by deputies: "As they entered, they saw Yen-I Yang lying on a sofa. He was 'soaked with blood,' 'gasping for air, and making gurgling noises.' They also saw the bloodied body of Tsai-Shai Yang. She was making 'gurgling noises' and 'gasping for air,' with 'her knees drawn up under her, and her face down on the floor,' as if she had been forced to bow down before being killed. Lastly, the deputies found the body of Yee-Chen Lin lying on the hallway floor." The combined take from two robberies and the brutal murder of four human beings: about $220. Using both the testimony of eyewitness accomplices and physical evidence, prosecutors obtained four capital murder convictions. After the guilty verdict was read, the murderer looked at the jury and said, "I'm going to get each and every one of you mother f------." The jury sentenced him to death row. He spent most of his first six years there in solitary confinement for assaulting fellow inmates and guards. The California Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court and even the whimsical 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have all rejected his appeals. In 1979 when he murdered Owens and the Yang family and in 1981 when he was convicted and sentenced to death, this violent criminal was known as Stanley Williams. Today he is known amiably as Tookie, the author of children's books that advocate nonviolence and warn of the perils of gang life. Tookie's long-awaited appointment with the executioner on Tuesday mobilized into action his considerable cadre of supporters — including the glitterati of Hollywood and members of academia who have repeatedly nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize — to demand clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. While Williams has apologized for his role in glorifying gang violence, he has never shown any remorse for the four murders nor even acknowledged his guilt. Remember Williams' victims. And then, only then, consider that we put too many people to death in the United States. The political necessity to appear tough on crime compels prosecutors to seek the death penalty in more cases than is warranted. Compounding this in some cases is the absence of the option for true life sentences, an option prosecutors did have in the Williams case. Prior to this year in Texas, for instance, a life sentence meant eligibility for parole in 40 years. And the reality is that against these forces, individuals who do not have access to the best legal defense money can buy sometimes improperly end up on death row. Research by Lise Olsen of the Houston Chronicle presents strong evidence that Texas put to death an innocent man in 1993 when it executed Ruben Cantu. The death penalty should be reserved for the most heinous crimes where guilt is corroborated by every form of evidence beyond a doubt. Do the crimes and conviction of an unremorseful Williams fit that standard? Who will tell the Yang and Owens families otherwise? "Remember what he did. It always comes down to people saying, 'Well you know, he's done all this stuff, and he's done all of that stuff,' but he's not in prison for writing books," Wayne Owens, Albert's brother, told the Kansas City Star. "That's something that happened because he's in prison."

To: steve harris who wrote (264387)	12/13/2005 12:36:45 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 1587223

The demented leftist freaks were all hot and bothered when conservatives and others were trying to find a way to save Terri Schiavo's life, in that case "The Rule of Law" HAD TO BE UPHELD at all costs. However, in the case of mass murderer Tookie Williams, the rule of law of course means nothing to them. Liberal: thy name is Hypocrite.