California Grapples with Execution

Found this in the local Marin Independent Journal today:

Local lawmaker urges clemency
Joe Nation seeks clemency, moratorium on death penalty
Richard Halstead

Stanley Tookie Williams, founder of the notorious Crips street gang, is scheduled to be executed at San Quentin State Prison at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday for murdering a 7-Eleven clerk and a family of three during the commission of separate robberies in 1979.

Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams and commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In his letter, Nation urged Schwarzenegger to, at the very least, impose a moratorium on executions until the commission presents its findings. The commission expects to complete its work by the end of 2007.

Nation also appealed to Schwarzenegger's stated desire to cut wasteful government spending. According to estimates by Attorney General Bill Lockyer, it costs the state $12.5 million to execute a murderer and just $1.5 million to imprison them for life.

Read the entire article here