SAN QUENTIN (USA), Dec 13: US authorities on Tuesday executed convicted killer Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams after one of the biggest anti-death penalty campaigns in the country for decades.
Williams, executed by lethal injection at San Quentin prison, was declared dead at 12:35am, a prison spokeswoman said.
Several thousand people gathered outside the prison south of San Francisco raised their voices in anger when the news was announced.
“It’s over, but it’s not,” said civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, one of several high-profile figures to have supported Williams in his quest to avoid execution.
“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.
Laura Owens, the stepmother of one of Williams’ victims broke down and cried when Williams was pronounced dead, said the reporter, adding that some of Williams’ supporters, instead, shouted, “The state of California just killed an innocent man,” as they filed out of the witness room.
San Quentin prison warden Steve Ornosky said Williams had no final words in the death chamber, but that he passed on some comments to his followers. He said Williams only had milk for his last supper.
Williams, 51, was found guilty in 1981 of four murders, those of a convenience store clerk and a family of Chinese immigrants.
While on death row he insisted he was innocent of the murders but admitted being a founder of the brutal Crips gang that terrorized Los Angeles at the time of the killings.
On death row he gained celebrity as an anti-violence crusader. An author of books urging children to steer clear of gangs, Williams was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.—AFP
