The end finally came for Stanley Tookie Williams who was executed here in California early this morning but there is no end in sight for the debate over the issue of capital punishment. The AP reports the latest developments this way:
CALIFORNIA prison officials last night executed Stanley “Tookie” Williams, 51, the ex-leader of the Crips gang who killed four people in 1979.
He died after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected final appeals to spare his life. The unofficial time of death was 12.35am local time. Williams has always maintained his innocence and claimed he had been reformed from his gang life but Mr Schwarzenegger said the 51-year-old’s lack of remorse was one of the reasons he decided against clemency…..
…..Two hours before the scheduled execution, as Williams waited in his cell, a team of prison officers checked the injection lines in the death chamber and one hour later, the tubes and needles were prepared. At 11.30pm local time, Williams was given a new pair of blue jeans and prison-issue shirt while nearby witnesses began filing into the death chamber.
Williams requested that none of his family watch his death.
The once feared killer was then walked into the death chamber and strapped to a gurney.
Two bags of saline solution were connected by intravenous tube into Williams’ veins.
A short time later, Williams was dead.
The Herald Sun gives this account:
Two hours before the scheduled execution, as Williams waited in his cell, a team of prison officers checked the injection lines in the death chamber and, one hour later, the tubes and needles were prepared.
Williams was given a new pair of blue jeans and prison-issue shirt while witnesses began filing into the death chamber.
The once feared killer was then walked into the death chamber and was strapped to a stretcher.
Two bags of saline solution were connected by intravenous tube into Williams veins and, on the order of a warden, the saline solution was replaced by a lethal chemical cocktail of potassium chloride to paralyse Williams and pancuronium bromide to stop his heart.
A short time later, Williams was dead.
And CNN notes that it wasn’t as swift a process as you would think:
Death did not come quickly for Stanley Tookie Williams, the co-founder of the violent Crips street gang who was executed by lethal injection early Tuesday for the 1979 robbery murders of four people in Los Angeles.
Witnesses and prison officials said Williams appeared to grow impatient as prison staffers searched for several minutes for a vein in his muscular left arm.
Authorities began to process to administer the lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. (3:01 a.m. ET) in the execution chamber at San Quentin. His death was announced 34 minutes later.
“He did seem frustrated that it didn’t go as quickly as he thought it might,” said San Quentin State Prison Warden Steven Ornoski.
….Seventeen reporters witnessed the execution and gave their accounts afterward.
Inserting the IVs to administer the lethal chemicals took nearly 20 minutes, with staff having particular difficulty getting a needle into Williams’ left arm.
Witness Crystal Carreon of the Sacramento Bee said Williams was restless during the preparations. Another witness, Kim Curtis, a reporter for The Associated Press, said Williams appeared to say, “You doing that right?” as prison staffers searched for a vein.
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez said Williams offered “no resistance,” but raised his head several times and looked toward his supporters and the press gallery.
Some witnesses said Williams appeared to wince when the needle found its mark.
And, as expected in the thorny issue of capital punishment, reaction was mixed.
Lora Owens, stepmother of Williams’ victim Albert Owens (a convenience store clerk) witnessed the execution and she was somewhat relieved:
“It was very difficult,” Owens said. “I don’t take pleasure in that, but I do believe that the justice system worked.”
Just last week, Owens expressed anger and disgust at those who supported Williams and who petitioned to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison.
“I think the celebrities are just abusing their popularity, their access to the media,” Owens said on “GMA” last Thursday. “To them, it’s a script; to me, it’s life.”
After the execution, she seemed more tranquil and willing to forgive.
“Even a man like Tookie Williams deserved to have someone who loves him,” she said.
Now, the hope is that her family can begin to heal. When Albert Owens was killed, Lora Owens said it began a long, pain-filled period in her family’s lives. Soon thereafter, Albert’s devastated father’s health began to deteriorate. Albert’s daughters grew up without a father.
It’s “not quite over,” Owens said. “But it’s definitely on the road.”
Meanwhile, the feelings of those who feel capital punishment=justice + the beginning of closure for victims’ famliies were matched by the passions of those who feel it is wrong, as witnessed by the response in Europe and at the Vatican:
California’s execution of a murderer this morning outraged many in Europe who regard the practice as barbaric, and feelings ran particularly deep in state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s native Austria.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI’s top official for justice matters denounced the death penalty for going against redemption and human dignity.
“We know the death penalty doesn’t resolve anything,â€? Cardinal Renato Martino said. “Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity.â€?
Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and many Europeans consider state-sponsored executions to be barbaric….
…Leaders of Austria’s pacifist Green Party went as far as to call for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship – a demand, however, that was quickly rejected by Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel despite his government’s opposition to the death penalty.
“Whoever, out of political calculation, allows the death of a person rehabilitated in such an exemplary manner has rejected the basic values of Austrian society,â€? said Peter Pilz, a Greens leader….
…In Italy, the country’s chapter of Amnesty International called the execution of the Crips founder “a cold-blooded murder”.
“His execution is a slap in the face to the principle of rehabilitation of inmates, an inhumane and inclement act toward a person who, with his exemplary behaviour and his activity in favour of street kids, had become an important figure and a symbol of hope for many youths,� the group said in a statement.
In Germany, Volker Beck, a leading member of the opposition Greens party, said he was “disappointed� that Schwarzenegger allowed the execution to go through.
“Schwarzenegger’s decision is a cowardly decision,â€? Beck told the Netzeitung online newspaper.
The debate also continues on weblogs. For instance there’s this view in favor of the death penalty in this case (but the writer of that piece expresses some reservations) and this view against it (but again the author of this piece grapples with some of the issues involved in the Williams case).
OTHER RESOURCES:
—Michelle Malkin once again has a treasure chest of varying links (her news/weblog roundups are quite extensive).
—Pundit Guy does live blogging on press accounts.
–You can listen to a podcast account by San Francisco Chronicle metro reporter Kevin Fagan of Williams’ execution by clicking here.
—The Political Teen has video of CNN Situation Room anchor Wolf Blitzer interviewing William’s prosecutor Robert Martin before the execution.
—Teacher death penalty issue info.
—A website debate on death penalty issue.
—1000 + Death Penalty links.