JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED—
EXECUTE TOOKIE WILLIAMS
by
Ken Eliasberg
In evaluating the Tookie Williams execution, two things should be kept in mind: (1) A decided majority of the American people believe in, and approve of, the death penalty, and (2) to postpone punishment to a point when the original crime is almost beyond memory undermines the entire concept of punishment—thus the old bromide, justice delayed is justice denied. Bear these two thoughts in mind as we take a closer look at the Tookie Williams situation.
First, the FOUR murders that good ol Tookie was convicted of took place over 25 years ago. Isn’t the obvious question here why are we even talking about Tookie Williams at this late date: Shouldn’t he have been punished for his crimes over 2 decades ago? Now I fully understand and appreciate that every criminal has the right to have his conviction reviewed, i.e. to exhaust his appellate rights. But 25 years? Give me a break! Punishment, to be effective, should take place while the crime itself is fairly fresh in the minds of the public who were exposed to it—at least when it is more than a vague memory. The point here is that appellate remedies should be exhausted as quickly (yet as thoroughly) as possible. That said, let’s take a look at what good old Tookie did to put himself in this position.
In February of 1979, Tookie and several of his buddies went to a 7-eleven store in Whittier, California. They robbed the store ($120.00), took the clerk, 26-year-old Ålbert Owens, in the back room, had him lie down on the floor, and, after shooting out the security camera, unloaded 2 rounds of a shot gun into the helpless Owens. Some 2 weeks later this gang of degenerates, held up a motel, this time netting $100.00, and killed the 76-year old owner, Yen-I Yang, his 63-year old wife, and their 43-year old daughter, dispatching them in the same ruthless and brutal fashion that they had used on the 7-eleven attendant. Are you getting the picture here? These were not very nice guys, and good old Tookie was their leader.
While Tookie vigorously denies his guilt, the evidence is both overwhelming and incontrovertible. Of course, that doesn’t stand in the way of the bleeding hearts who have assembled to make the case for clemency for Tookie.
Prior to these more serious crimes, Tookie’s main claim to fame was that he started the Crips, a ruthless gang of thugs, who, together with the Bloods, have terrorized various parts of L.A. for years. Now, Tookie, to his credit has disavowed the gang life and, over the course of his incarceration, has written books for children. Some may regard this as commendable; I regard it as a travesty that a dirt bag like Tookie Williams was allowed to languish in jail long enough to become an author (reminiscent of that other piece of garbage—Mumia Abu-Jamal—who still resides, at taxpayer expense, in a Philadelphia prison some 24 years after he viciously gunned down a helpless policemen).
Now, his supporters argue that gang disavowal and children’s books are sufficient acts of redemption to spare Tookie. Although, as one commentator, Jack Dunphy points out, how do you come by redemption when the “redeemed” person denies guilt, i.e. what is there to redeem if the guy hasn’t done the crime? Makes sense to me. However, Tookie did do the crime, and it’s high time he paid for it
Finally, do you think that the decibel count over Tookie would be quite so loud if he were white? I don’t think so; many black leaders—the usual suspects - have taken this opportunity to once again wave the bloody flag of racism (a factor which has absolutely no bearing on Tookie’s situation). The bottom line here is simply this - Tookie Williams killed 4 innocent people in cold blood; he did it for about 220 dollars (how cheap can life get?); he boasted about it to friends while explaining that he did it in order not to leave any witnesses to his $220 crime; and he has never accepted responsibility for the crime, even though there is compelling evidence of his guilt. If we are really serious about use of the death penalty, it is unlikely that you will find a situation that cries out any louder for its use than that of Tookie Williams. Resolution of this situation should be obvious—EXECUTE TOOKIE WILLIAMS ON DECEMBER 13th (or make a mockery of our system of justice). The matter now rests with Governor Schwarzenegger for his consideration of clemency; it would be an outrage if the governor grants clemency in this situation.The sad part of all of this is not that we might execute Tookie; the sad part is that it took 25 years to do it!