December 7, 2005
Don't Execute Tookie -- Or Anyone Else
By Froma Harrop

We who oppose capital punishment can take a simple position on Stanley "Tookie" Williams: Don't execute him or anyone else.

A founder of the vicious Crips gang, Williams was convicted in California of murdering four people. He has become a "cause" in Hollywood, which infuriates many defenders of victims' rights. Williams is scheduled to die by a lethal injection on Dec. 13.

Williams' supporters assert that the former thug has totally transformed himself and now serves society by warning youth against gangs. A TV movie made about Williams was called "Redemption." Jamie Foxx starred as the ex-gang leader. It should be noted that Williams maintains his innocence in the murders. And his lawyers insist that their black client did not receive a fair trial. Thousands have asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare Williams' life.

Those pushing for his execution contend that Williams deserves to die for the crimes he's convicted of. And besides, who knows whether his good works, apologies and denials are just part of a con job?

Who knows, indeed? But we who think such state-sanctioned killing is immoral don't have to arrive at any airtight truths on the matter. As long as Williams is incarcerated, he is unable to harm anyone. Foes of capital punishment do have a special obligation to protect the public. Many Americans would join their cause only with the assurance that dangerous criminals serve life sentences, with no chance of parole. If Schwarzenegger grants clemency, Williams would still spend his remaining days behind bars.

The swirl surrounding the Williams case has a hundred angles, the most horrifying of which involves politics. A debate is on about whether killing Williams would help or hurt Schwarzenegger's political prospects. Some think that granting Williams clemency would harm the governor's standing with his conservative base. Others say that showing mercy might shore up his appeal to the center.

That politics should play any part in the decision involving a person's life is appalling, but it happens all the time. While public support for capital punishment is declining, polls show most Americans still favor it -- and politicians read polls. Raw political calculation is the only plausible explanation why Bill Clinton, as governor of Arkansas, allowed the execution of a retarded man.

President Bush's approval of capital punishment seems to come from the heart. How else to read his refusal, as Texas governor, to commute the 1998 death sentence of Karla Faye Tucker? Convicted of murder, Tucker had apparently become a born-again Christian and married the prison chaplain. Bush actually mocked her pleas and ignored appeals on her behalf from the World Council of Churches, the pope, Newt Gingrich and Pat Robertson. I thought of Tucker last month, while looking at a photo of the president grinning in front of two turkeys he had just pardoned for Thanksgiving.

The celebrity crusade to save Williams somewhat muddies the issue. Yes, Williams should not be executed -- but neither should any of the less attractive inmates on death row. That message is getting lost. The rapper Snoop Dogg, Bianca Jagger, actor Mike Farrell and others note the wonderful children's books that Williams helped write. They point to his professions of remorse for his former gang activities. But groups against the death penalty -- and Farrell and Jagger have been consistent members -- confuse the public when they single out special cases.

Furthermore, people who oppose the death penalty must also treat the victims' families and friends with utmost respect. Any of us would resent having our voice trumped by the bullhorn of celebrity. The survivors of horrendous crimes have suffered beyond measure, and we who oppose executing their tormentors must acknowledge that fact.

All this attention is probably why Gov. Schwarzenegger decided to hold a private clemency hearing for Williams. He wouldn't do it for murderer Donald Beardslee, who was executed last Jan. 19. The governor is now hearing several arguments: Williams has "changed." He should continue his educational work. And, the most potent of all, he may have been wrongly convicted.

Foes of capital punishment need formulate only one opinion and put it simply: The state should not be killing anyone who no longer threatens the public.

Copyright 2005 Creators Syndicate

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_7_05_FH.html