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No 11th-hour stays for gang founder

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday refused to block the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, rejecting the notion that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had atoned for his crimes and found redemption on death row.

With a federal court refusing to grant a reprieve, Williams, 51, was set to die by injection at San Quentin Prison just after midnight this morning (3:01 EST) for murdering four people 1979.

Williams' case became one of the nation's biggest death-row causes celebres in decades. It set off a nationwide debate over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing Williams had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.

But Schwarzenegger suggested that Williams' supposed change of heart was not genuine, noting that the inmate had not owned up to his crimes or shown any real remorse for the countless killings committed by the Crips.

"Is Williams' redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise?" Schwarzenegger wrote less than 12 hours before the execution. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."

Williams' supporters were disappointed with the governor's refusal to commute the death sentence to life in prison without parole.

"There is absolutely no recognition given to redemption," said NAACP president Bruce S. Gordon.

Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned. Williams claimed he was innocent.

Just before the governor announced his decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals denied a request for a reprieve.

A last-ditch petition by the defense to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected.

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 01:31:15]