How do I feel about the execution of Tookie Williams? I have some misgivings about the right of the state to kill convicted criminals, but I also have misgivings about letting people live after they commit heinous acts.
Evidently, California was asked to provide clemency for Williams because, after being convicted of multiple murders, he’s seen the light. Of course, he still contends that he’s not guilty of the murders, so California is ACTUALLY being asked to provide clemency for someone who’s changed his life after crimes he didn’t commit.
As I told the official VM fiancee this morning, “If he was convicted of murders-during-the-course-of-a-single-robbery, I might have more leeway, because of the Tarantinoesque capacity for things going horribly wrong, but murders from different robberies in the span of a few weeks makes him much more reprehensible, in my eyes.”
Then there are Williams’ victims. This page contains links to photos of them. These are pretty graphic, so consider yourself warned. I took a look at four people who had their lives taken from them, and then asked myself if Tookie deserved “a second chance.”