San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. – After nearly 25 years on California’s death row, time could run out today for Stanley “Tookie” Williams.

Unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger grants clemency or a court decides to intervene at the 11th hour, Williams will be executed just past midnight for the 1979 shotgun slayings of four people in Los Angeles. The 51-year-old Williams was still clinging to hopes of mercy Sunday as the governor continued to consider whether to spare the co-founder of the notorious Crips gang for his decadelong transformation into a death row apostle against gang violence.

“He’s stronger than me, I’ll tell you that,” said Barbara Becnel, Williams’ closest confidante who met with him Sunday at San Quentin.

Schwarzenegger is likely the last hope for Williams, whose case has attracted international attention and thrust the death penalty debate back into the public limelight in California. Schwarzenegger has rejected the only two clemency petitions he’s considered from death row inmates.

Events continued to unfold rapidly over the weekend in the usual flurry of activity that precedes a California execution. The California Supreme Court late Sunday refused to grant a stay of execution, according to the Associated Press. Williams’ lawyers are expected to turn to the federal courts, where his appeals have failed repeatedly over the past two decades.

The thrust of the latest legal maneuver is that the execution should be postponed because several legislators plan to introduce legislation to halt all of the state’s executions while a commission studies California’s justice system. Williams’ lawyers also say some new witnesses have come forward who may provide new information on the case.

Meanwhile, prison officials prepared for what could be the state’s 12th execution since the death penalty was restored in California in 1978. And Williams’ supporters continued to protest and hold events to lobby against putting him to death. Sister Helen Prejean, an outspoken death penalty opponent who authored “Dead Man Walking,” spoke out against Williams’ execution at an American Civil Liberties Union press conference.

Protesters gathered outside of San Quentin’s gates on both sides of the death penalty issue, a prelude to what are expected to be major demonstrations Monday night.

“Stanley Williams is a murderer,” said Gloria Bucol Bachrach of Fremont, Calif., whose son, Steven, was killed 25 years ago during a concert in downtown Oakland. “He needs to pay for his crime against his victims and the victims’ families.”

Williams was sentenced to die in 1981 after a Los Angeles jury convicted him of murdering store clerk Albert Owens during a robbery, and then two weeks later killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Yang, 63, the owners of a Los Angeles motel. Williams also shot to death the couple’s daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, during the robbery.

Williams, who has always maintained his innocence, began a campaign against gangs about 12 years ago, renouncing the Crips and writing children’s books to discourage schoolchildren from joining gangs. His supporters, including celebrities such as rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Jamie Foxx, argue that Williams should be saved to continue his work.

But Los Angeles prosecutors have argued vigorously against clemency, saying he has not apologized for his crimes and has had ample opportunity to argue his case in the courts. Victims’ family members also want to see Williams executed.

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AP-NY-12-11-05 2206EST

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