The F.P.S.S regrets to announce that Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed by lethal injection on tuesday and was declared dead at 12:35 december 13th 2005.

We ask all our members and readers to please continue to fight to have the death penalty dropped worldwide as a method of punishment.

California - United States authorities on Tuesday executed Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a convicted killer who was at the centre of one of biggest anti-death penalty campaigns in the United States in decades, a spokesperson for San Quentin prison said.

Williams, executed by lethal injection, was declared dead at 12:35, she added.

Several thousand people gathered outside the prison, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco, raising their voices in anger when Williams' execution was announced.

"It's over, but it's not," said Reverend Jesse Jackson, one of several well known personalities who supported Williams in his quest to have his execution stayed.

"He came in without any kind of resistance, was strapped down, showed no kind of resistance whatsoever," said Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez, who witnessed the execution along with nearly 40 other people, including supporters of Williams and the families of his victims.

Williams, 51, was found guilty in 1981 of four murders, those of a convenience store clerk and a family of Chinese immigrants.

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Stan was the co-founder in 1971 of the Los Angeles Crips gang. In 1981 he was convicted of murdering four people during two robberies and sentenced to death row at San Quentin State Prison. Stan deeply regrets his gang involvement but has always maintained his innocence of these crimes.

His trial was based on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of several witnesses, all of whom were facing a range of felony charges, including fraud, rape, murder and mutilation. Even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stated in a September 10, 2002, ruling that the witnesses in Stan's case had "less-than-clean backgrounds and incentives to lie in order to obtain leniency from the state in either charging or sentencing."

There was physical evidence, but none of it pointed to Stan.

• Fingerprints were found at both crime scenes, but they were not Stan's. These fingerprints have never been identified.
• A bloody boot print left near the victim at one of the crime scenes was not Stan's. This boot print has never been identified.
• A shotgun shell found at that crime scene was said to be from a gun purchased by Stan five years earlier. But the gun was, in fact, found under the bed of two people – a husband and wife facing felony insurance fraud charges and who were also under investigation for murdering their own crime partner. This husband-and-wife crime team did not serve any prison time and their murder investigation was dropped after they testified that Stan "volunteered" a confession to them.
• The "star" witness at Stan's trial – a white man and longtime felon who was placed in a nearby cell while Stan awaited trial and was years later discovered to have been a paid police informant – also testified that Stan "volunteered" a confession to him. But nearly 20 years after Stan's trial it was discovered that a Los Angeles police officer had left a copy of the police murder file involving Stan's case in this informant's cell for overnight study. The next day the murder file was picked up by that same officer, and the informant informed the police that Stan had volunteered a confession to him. In return for this testimony, the informant – who himself was facing the death penalty for rape, murder and mutilation – was given a lesser sentence that allowed him the possibility of parole and freedom.

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee

While on death row, Stan has written 9 highly-acclaimed children's books that educate young people to avoid gangs, crime and incarceration. He has also worked to end gang violence through his peace protocol and Internet Project for Street Peace, an international peer mentoring program. Stan has saved the lives of over 150,000 youth, as reported by them, their parents, teachers and law enforcement officials in their emails to Stan ([email protected]). He has recently published his memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption, which has been nominated for a James Madison Book Award. His work has resulted in multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace and Literature prizes. This summer Stan's work was even recognized by the President of the United States when he received a presidential award for his volunteer work to help youth. Stan's story was also recently made into a television movie, "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story," starring Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx. The movie was honored by the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and other prestigious awards.

Saving Stan, Saving Our Civil Rights

Stan, like many prisoners, experienced racism in the criminal justice system. His prosecutor kicked off three African-Americans from serving as jurors in Stan's trial, resulting in Stan being convicted by a virtually all-white jury (no African-Americans; one Latino; one Filipino; ten Caucasians). This prosecutor made numerous racist remarks during the trial, comparing Stan to a "Bengal Tiger" in the San Diego Zoo whose natural jungle "habitat" was the equivalent of South Central Los Angeles.

The California State Supreme Court had twice censured this same prosecutor for equally discriminatory behavior. Indeed, a member of the California Supreme Court at that time made the following statement about that prosecutor:

...I believe that we must place the ultimate blame on its real source – the prosecutor. It was he who unconstitutionally struck Black prospective jurors. The record compels this conclusion and permits none other… This prosecutor knew that such conduct was altogether improper. The trial court told him as much. And so did we… This court attempted to teach this same prosecutor that invidious discrimination was unacceptable when we reversed a judgment of death because of similar improper conduct on his part. He failed - or refused - to learn his lesson. The result is another reversal - and another costly burden on the administration of justice.

On October 11, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Stan's appeal to investigate the racism and discrimination at the heart of his case, as well as Stan's innocence issues. This denial established as "case law" for the entire nation the right of prosecutors to exclude jurors on the basis of race and to denigrate minority defendants in front of white juries.

The ruling is a frontal attack on the civil rights of all Americans.

Will the State Execute a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee?

An execution date has been set for Stan Tookie Williams: December 13, 2005. In November 2005 his attorneys plan to file another Federal Habeas Petition that presents new evidence of innocence. At the same time a clemency team of lawyers (composed of lawyers from two prestigious international law firms: New York City's Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, founded in 1830, and the 500-attorney firm of Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP headquartered in Los Angeles), has been formed to prepare a clemency petition for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's consideration. That clemency petition will be submitted to the Governor of California by the beginning of December 2005.

Why Stanley Tookie Williams Should Receive Clemency

Clemency is a request for mercy. In the United States it is a request for a Governor (only a Governor can grant clemency) to not impose the death penalty, but instead to impose an alternative sentence: Life without the possibility of parole. So clemency does not mean freedom for the prisoner. It means that the person will spend the rest of his life in prison unless he can later prove innocence through further appeals.

Stanley Tookie Williams deserves clemency. From a 9-by-4 foot cell he has undertaken extraordinary work to serve humanity in his effort to reverse the destructive legacy of the Crips youth gang. If Governor Schwarzenegger grants clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams he will have made an historic move to diminish youth violence in this country and abroad because of the powerful work that Stan would be able to continue to do, using his credible voice to reduce the presence of street gangs throughout this nation and around the world. Even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote an unprecedented conclusion to its September 10, 2002, ruling about Stan. The Court concluded that Stan was doing "laudable" work that made him "worthy" of consideration for clemency. To that end, Stan has:

• Saved the lives of over 150,000 youth who were either preparing to join a gang or got out of a gang, based on the testimonies of tens of thousands of emails received by Stan at [email protected] from kids, parents, teachers, librarians and even law enforcement officials who say Stan's
• Written nine highly acclaimed anti-violence, anti-gang and anti-drug books for elementary school students (Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence, a series of eight books) and middle school children (Life in Prison, a book that deromanticizes incarceration) that are in schools, libraries and juvenile correctional facilities throughout the nation and around the world. Life in Prison was honored by the American Library Association.
• Written his autobiography, Blue Rage, Black Redemption, for high school students and imprisoned adults to inspire them and to demonstrate to them how they can rehabilitate themselves no matter the difficulty surrounding their life circumstance. Blue Rage, Black Redemption was recently nominated by Frederick Douglass IV for a James Madison Book Award.
• Written the "Tookie Protocol for Peace: A Local Street Peace Initiative," which provides step-by-step instructions for how a community can create peace – block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Nearly 200 Crips and Bloods in Newark, New Jersey, for example, signed a truce document based on Stan's peace protocol one month after downloading that sample peace treaty from his website (www.tookie.com). Until then, those Crips and Bloods had been responsible for 32 gang-related deaths during the first four months of 2004. By May 2004, after signing the truce document, the murder rate in Newark, New Jersey, dropped significantly. The Deputy Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, credits Stan's work as playing a significant role in the lessening of violence in his city. Reformed gang members in other states, such as Indiana, have also reported their successful use of Stan's peace protocol to secure treaties that stopped gang violence in their communities.
• Written letters to incarcerated youth that have been used as counseling and learning tools by juvenile correctional officers. The letters are available for free on his website
• Provided live mentoring via telephone to the principals of the 23 most at-risk elementary schools in the Chicago Public Schools during an in-service training session about Stan's work. The session was so successful that the Chicago Public Schools decided to create a curriculum around Stan's Blue Rage, Black Redemption book and his other work. That curriculum was launched in September 2005 within those 23 schools. It is proving to be so successful with students that there is a waiting list to become a participant.
• Provided live mentoring to at-risk youth via the telephone by calling schools, a Bay Area juvenile correctional facility and community-based after-school programs serving troubled youth
• Provided live mentoring to very high-risk youth who visit him at San Quentin State Prison
• Recorded anti-gang Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that have been played on radio stations throughout the United States and Canada. A British station is preparing to air his PSAs
• Assisted in the creation of an award-winning movie made about his life, "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story," starring Jamie Foxx. The movie is being sold in DVD format globally – in, for example, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Iraq to U.S. soldiers fighting there. The movie of Stan's life is proving to be so inspirational that it, too, is saving lives. (See emails at www.tookie.com.)

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• Been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize – once by a member of the Swiss Parliament and four times by a growing list of eminent professors from the United States and Europe. He has also been nominated four times for the Nobel Prize for Literature by William Keach, Professor of English Literature from Brown University.
• Received from President George W. Bush a 2005 Presidential Call to Service Award for his volunteer efforts to help youth

If you want more information, have ideas about how you can help, or want to ask a question, contact Barbara Becnel or Kathleen Sullivan at or at 510-235-9780, or contact Crystal Bybee at [email protected] or at 510-333-7966.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Story of Stanley Williams, I encourage you to view the movie made about his life called Redemption and to visit his" Tookie.com". Stanley is currently awaiting execution on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.

Let me first say that I am a firm supporter of the Death Penalty. But one cannot read the story of Stanley Williams and not question whether or not it would be better for him to continue his work in prison rather than be put to death.

Stanley's Crimes

Stanley Williams, also known as "Tookie" is best known as one of the two co-founders of the nation's most infamous street gangs, the Crips. But in 1981, he was convicted of killing Alvin Owen, shot twice in the back of the head during a 7-Eleven robbery in Los Angeles. Thsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Yee Chen Lin were gunned down in an L.A. motel robbery two weeks later. For these crimes, he was sentenced to die and currently resides on Death Row in San Quentin State Prison.

Stanley's Work

During his incarceration, Stanley Williams has come to realize the destructive impact that his actions have had on society. And, as a result of this realization, he embarked on a passionate effort to keep others from following his same path.

Stanley, also known as "Tookie," wrote a series of children's books entitled "Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence," which encourages youngsters to avoid the trappings of drugs and gangs. These books have impacted the lives of young people across the globe; as far away as Europe and South Africa. Stanley's efforts have made such a difference in the lives of others that he has been nominated nine times for the Nobel Prize, most recently in 2005.

Stanley also works with the Institute for the Prevention of Youth Violence (IPYV), a Richmond, California-based nonprofit organization established in 1997. The IPYV is affiliated with the Neighborhood House of North Richmond. Having grown up in Richmond, I am well aware of the many challenges the youth in this are face everyday. The Institute's mission is to develop a wide range of innovative programs that steer youth away from gangs, violence, drugs, and other criminal and self-destructive behaviors.

Why Life in Prison, instead of Death?

Stanley's efforts, as extraordinary as they are, do not absolve Mr. Williams of his crimes, nor should they be cause to release him from the debt he must pay to society for those crimes. As a consequence of his crimes, Stanley Williams has given up his life. The question now is "What is the best use of this life we now hold in our hands?"

Stanley's is not merely a self-professed story of redemption, but one about a man who while incarcerated has established a proven record of success in keeping young people out of a life of drugs and gang violence. Is there not a greater benefit to society by having Mr. Williams serve a life sentence and continue his efforts to save the lives of young people?

This is not a question of Mr. William's guilt or innocence. That is a matter for the courts to decide. Instead this is a case where the Governor can exercise the power granted to him under the State Constitution to grant clemency to Mr. Williams because he believes that permitting him to continue his work is in the best interest of California.

This is not an effort to save the life of Stanley Williams, but to save the lives of the many young people who could be affected by his message.

To those who say he should die

If you believe that Mr. Williams deserves to die for his crimes, I can't argue with you. If you think that he should still die, regardless of how much good he has done; your position is definitely valid.

I can think of at least a dozen arguments why he should be executed. And I won't try to dispute them. However, I do plead with you to ask yourself this one question. "If allowing Stanley Williams to live will save lives, is it worth keeping him alive?"

What can you do?

If you think it is worth keeping Stanley alive, I am asking you to please (Click Here) and add your name to our list of conservatives who would support Governor Schwarzenegger in commuting the death sentence of Stanley Williams to one of life in prison, without the possibility of parole. I believe that our voice (as conservatives) will resonate with the Governor and possibly give him the backing he needs to grant clemency.

While I am not sure exactly the sentence will be carried out, I have been informed that he is somewhere near the front of the line, meaning that it could be within the next six months. Thus your immediate support is greatly needed.


Thank you for your time and heartfelt consideration on this issue (no matter which side you come down on). It's not an easy one.

Craig DeLuz

It's an honor being able to speak to all of you conscientious people here today.  My name is Stanley "Tookie" Williams.  I'm a condemned prisoner on San Quentin's death row and for more than 19 ½ years of existing within this microcosm of madness, it has been a race against the executioner's clock to prove my innocence, to regain my freedom.  Plain and simple, if I fail, I die.

In the meantime, death row remains a constant reminder of my morality.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this hellhole looks, feels, and smells like doom.  Personally, I've known nine black men who have lost their lives here on death row.   Two committed suicide by hanging, three died of illnesses, one was shot to death, one died of asphyxiation caused by pepper spray, one was executed here at San Quentin and the ninth man was transferred from San Quentin's death row to a Missouri State death row and promptly executed.  What is more, there are other men here on San Quentin's death row who were killed, committed suicide, died of illnesses of were executed.

Also, keeping in the evil spirit of capital punishment there are some men who are exercising their constitutional rights in the court of appeals to expedite their demise.  Notably, when the death penalty is analyzed and put into proper perspective, it's a theoretical and political error for vengeance posing as justice.

I see no greater hypocrisy than a system that propagates murder for the solution to murder.  To say the least, this mechanism of death operates on vengeance, blatant racism, prosecutorial misconduct, questionable "experts" IAC- am acronym for "ineffective Assistance of Counsel", tainted evidence, involuntary drugging, exclusion of black jurors and a host of other miscarriages of justice.

Despite the duplicitous revelations, the blindness of revenge influences some people to support capital punishment and its barbaric method of lextalionus- an eye for an eye.

To an objective mind, this system of termination is the poor people's death chamber.  It's also pro-death penalty platform for political demagogues, unsatisfied vigilantes, media spin-doctors and other groups who try to obtain solace through the legalized murder of another.

It evokes images of atrocious history of the 17th, 18th, and 19 the centuries when vengeful seeking mobs had salivated over watching people lynched- and particularly, black men and women.

Nevertheless, when murder has been committed by either a criminal without a without a conscious or in the name of citizens with a conscious who support or enforce a legal system that murders, the result is still the same: death.

I must ask this audience, what are the moral lessons to be learned in this merciless strategy that kills poor people? It's no mystery as to why children are emulating "The Terminator" and going to school kamakazi-like throughout this country. We adults tend to forget that they have vicariously brought to the rhetoric that killing is the elixir for their personal problems. This "choplogic" for the death penalty has provided the ultimate poetic license for children- consciously or subconsciously- to emulate this society's philosophy of death for death. Many of these children are murdering in hopes of hopes of being murdered themselves.

To murder and to be murdered has become the Zeitgeist- the spirit of the era- for youth martyrdom.

I'm hoping that all of you will concur that this cycle of madness must end, beginning with abolishing the death penalty. But realistically, a moratorium in California must first be implemented.

Such a moral gesture for humanity will help establish a legal forum for an independent panel to thoroughly delve into every aspect of the death penalty system to counter the biased "harmless error" rulings, to check for improprieties on behalf of arresting officers, DAs (District Attorneys), judges, investigators, forensic experts and others who are paid to uphold its (the death penalty system's) decree.

I am confident enough to say to all of you today that if the death penalty is objectively investigated, it will be exposed for what it is- a racist, inhumane and disproportionately allocated system used primarily for poor people. I don't know about any of you, but personally, I can't name one millionaire or billionaire on death row. Can you?

In conclusion, I am fully aware that when I help underprivileged children and speak out against the death penalty, I do so from a vulnerable position. My voice can be silenced by institutional bureaucracy or treachery, but the message transcends my life and it is God's will.

Meanwhile, while I breathe, I hope.

This universal symbol embodies the passionate principle that no life should be considered less worthy than another – particularly those men and women who reside on death row.

With that awareness, let us stand against the death penalty in the United States and elsewhere. And let the truth of these words be unchained into the world.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee, children's book author and San Quentin death row inmate

Please take the time to visit the links below and add your voice to the chorus of people who beleive that Stanley Williams should be allowed to live!

Stanley Tookie Williams
9 December 2005

Foreign Prisoner Support Service would like to request that the Governor of California grant clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The death penalty violates the International Bill of Rights.

FPSS believes that in accordance with the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (New York, 15 December 1989, makes it a fundamental human right not to be executed. It prohibits the execution of anyone under the law of a ratifying country. The protocol also implicitly prohibits the reintroduction of the death penalty.

The United States of America has yet to sign this agreement and yet, constantly promotes an image of democracy and proclamation of freedom from persecution whilst committing acts that violate the agreements that which makes us humane.

https://www.tookie.com/