Will the Governator Commute Tookies Sentence

[Hugh R]

Got ahead of my self on the last poll. I should have started out with will the Governator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) commute Tookie's death sentence (to be carried out next Wednesday at 12AM to life or something else.

For those of you not in California, Stanley "Tookie" Williams is one of the founders of the Crips street gang, a very violent gang. Tookie was convicted of the shotgun murders of four people he killed in 1979, and his appeals have run out. Tookie has been on death row since the early 80s and has written a number of childrens books telling them to stay out of gangs. He's been nominated for several Nobel Peace Prizes, but upon digging, it seems just about any elected official can put in a nomination, same for his Literary Nobel Prize nomination, just about anyone in a university in a literary teaching position can nominate. Many black advocate groups in the US are holding Tookie out as a hero, a mentor, etc. His repudiation of gang life while actually in prision is questionable.

[Moses]

Buh-bye, Tookie!

[dd74]

Yes, Hugh - I expect Schwarzennegger to sign off on Tookie.

[aways]

I would hope that tookie gets what he gave 4 other people -- a store clerk and 3 members of the same family -- a 12-guage shotgun blast to the back while they were face-down on the ground. The needle would be to good for him... It's time to see if Ahhnold is the terminator or a girly-man...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I think Schwarzenneger will actually commute his sentence. He's still badly bloodied from the special election and although he's sacked his Chief of Staff and in doing so made an overture to the more moderate/left segments of society, I don't think it's enough. He'll commute Tookie's sentence in an attempt to portray himself as compassionate and less of a hardass.

He stands to gain more by doing so than he does by playing to his base anyway. It's pretty clear given the outcome of the special election that the hardcore (R) message is being soundly rejected in California, if not nationally. His only hope for political survival is to appeal to a more mainstream/moderate following - and fast. The extreme right-wing agenda has failed miserably for him.

I personally think Tookie deserves no special favor and it doubly sucks that politics trumps the justice system and common sense. But alas it will.

Another factor to consider is that "certain segments" of L.A.'s population are gearing up for widespread rioting/looting if there's an execution. There's even rumors of organized efforts to bring hellraisers/looters to mostly white, affluent neighborhoods so as to not burn down their own shops/homes - they'll make it a race war. Perhaps overstated, perhaps not, but I'm sure the threat/plan has made its way to the governator's ear.

[dd74]

Don't think so. He'd be seen as pandering if he doesn't sign off on Tookie. If he commutes Tookie, holy crap, what's next? It'll come out that he's actually sleeping with a Kennedy!

[Hugh R]

Porsche-O

Just made a note to go to Walmart. Lets see, 9mm, 45, 22, 30-30, 12 gauge, 25, what else have I forgotten??? Oh yeah, batteries for the laser sights.

[speeder]

I don't envy Arnold on this one. Most governors of even the largest states like CA. can sail through a term or two w/o ever having to make a call like this. I haven't educated myself about this guy (TW) enough to judge whether he deserves to live, I'm talking about the difficulty because of the hype/politics/aftermath/etc..

Bush fried more people than any governor in history down in Texas, and doesn't seem to have hurt him any w/ his supporters. I am not against the death penalty per se, but it is definitely not applied evenly or sensibly most of the time. If a defendant has resources like OJ or Robert Blake, they don't even try to go for the DP no matter how many "special circumstances" are present. A lot of poor, loser types get fried who had schit lawyers. the system sucks.

At the same time, in states like MN. and WI., where I am from, there is no DP and it doesn't seem fair. We're all in the same country, but some POS can murder 6 people over a hunting argument and get 3 hots and a cot for life while some other guy gets the gas chamber for a run-of-the-mill, (1) victim murder in Texas or some other southern state.

My Dad is a retired judge in MN. and had to sentence guys to life that he wanted to shoot right in the court room, like the guy who walked into a gun store and just slaughtered everyone in the place before they knew what hit them. All for a robbery. So the system doesn't work in the U.S., and of course their are a hell of a lot of people who are just against the DP on heartfelt principle. I'm not one of them, but I respect their views.

It's a no-win, real bag of crap for Arnold. Tough as it gets, IMO.

As for riots, I live in Koreatown which was one of the hardest hit areas last time. Koreans seem to own a lot of the liquor stores down in the 'hood and have a lousy relationship w/ their customers, so the first place the rioters marched was straight North on streets like Western and Normandy up to K-town to do some hunting w/o a license. The Koreans of course are of the *heavily armed/take no prisoners* mentality so there were a lot of dead bodies in the streets and alleys around here.

My place is reasonably impenetrable, (wouldn't you say, Hugh), so I will have a good view of the ground war if it ever happens again. Sure hope it doesn't, though.

[techweenie]

Arnold shouldn't commute the sentence.

And his (tiny) "base" (33% approval?) will shrink even farther if he does.

I predict no riots. Rioters don't put out press releases threatening action. It's more likely disinformation.

[Tobra]

I would agree with Porscho on what I think he will do, but I disagree about Cali clearly rejecting the right. The recent election was more about how much money the opponents could spend than anything else, IMHO. I hope he does what "the people of California" want, and the majority of them support the death penalty, how left wing is that?

[Oh Haha]

I think Ahnold should inject him as "The Terminator."
This f'ing dirbag deserves no respect and should have been put down years ago.
Found Jesus in the joint, did ya?
I'm glad to hear that, too bad you still gotta go, a$$bag!
Buh-Bye!

[aways]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
I think Schwarzenneger will actually commute his sentence. He's still badly bloodied from the special election and although he's sacked his Chief of Staff and in doing so made an overture to the more moderate/left segments of society, I don't think it's enough. He'll commute Tookie's sentence in an attempt to portray himself as compassionate and less of a hardass.

I personally think Tookie deserves no special favor and it doubly sucks that politics trumps the justice system and common sense. But alas it will.

Another factor to consider is that "certain segments" of L.A.'s population are gearing up for widespread rioting/looting if there's an execution. There's even rumors of organized efforts to bring hellraisers/looters to mostly white, affluent neighborhoods so as to not burn down their own shops/homes - they'll make it a race war. Perhaps overstated, perhaps not, but I'm sure the threat/plan has made its way to the governator's ear.

The default position is to give him the needle as he certainly deserves. However, I fear you may be right and Ahhnold may cave for political reasons. That would be outrageous in itself, but not as outrageous as it would be if he caved in because of some threat of potential riots. If we start going down that road, we're hopelessly lost as a society.

[DavidI]

Tookie deserves to meet his maker. He is nothing more than a violent killer and thug. I don't think there will be any rioters. However, should one occur, I will lead a platoon to restore order in South Central. Some of the men and women I work with are the finest. Hopefully, Tookie is put to death and the aftermath is tranquility.

David

[aways]

Originally posted by DavidI
Tookie deserves to meet his maker. He is nothing more than a violent killer and thug. I don't think there will be any rioters. However, should one occur, I will lead a platoon to restore order in South Central. Some of the men and women I work with are the finest. Hopefully, Tookie is put to death and the aftermath is tranquility.

David

Amen to that, brother. If the need arises, hopefully the Mayor and Chief won't tie your hands in any effort required to "restore order". I'm still sickened every time I think of the brutal beating that Reginald Denny got from rioters after being caught in the wrong place during the last riot.

[Oh Haha]

David,
Let's hope that you do not have to lead that platoon to restore order.
If so, be careful.
(I still think it's cool that a cop drives a freakin' 911)

[Rick Lee]

"Bush fried more people than any governor in history down in Texas, and doesn't seem to have hurt him any w/ his supporters. "

Where'd you get this one - Moveon.org? TX had the death penalty LONG before Bush was governor, and under TX law, the governor cannot commute a death sentence unless it's recommended by the state pardon board. The governor in TX has nothing whatsoever to do with execution of sentence in death penalty cases. He may sign the death warrant, but it's a formality, since he can't commute sentences unless the pardon board recommends it. And the only reason Bush is pinned (totally falsely) with so many executions is because he's the only guy in a LONG time who actually got REELECTED as governor of TX. When you only serve four years instead of eight, you tend to get pinned with fewer executions.