See ya Tookie

[Diomedes]

Not everyone, Wigga.

[mussa]

good ridance

[MadMarchHare]

I'll be just as happy when they waste Peterson.

[T_Section224]

i'm an equal opportunity death penalty guy.

[henchmanUK]

He's gone.

"I am saddened that we are continuing to demean human life by pretending that we are God and making determinations to kill other individuals for what it is claimed they have done," former "M*A*S*H" star and death penalty opponent Mike Farrell told CNN.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who visited with Williams, said Schwarzenegger decided "to choose revenge over redemption and to use Tookie Williams as a trophy in the flawed system."

"To kill him is a way of making politicians look tough," Jackson said. "It does not make it right. It does not make any of us safer. It does not make any of us more secure."

Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and prominent death penalty opponent, compared the death penalty to "gang justice."

"Gang justice is, if you kill a member of our gang, we kill you -- and don't tell me anything about how you changed your life or what you're going to do," she said. "You kill, and we kill you. And that's what the United States of America is doing with this."

Have to agree with all these people.

[Butchers Bill]

I'll be just as happy when they waste Peterson.

When Mcveigh (sp) got the needle I was satisfied as well...there is no color issue in this case.

The problem with the death penalty is that it is not carried out fast enough.  Tookie was on death row for nearly a quarter century before his sentence was carried out.  He got to live his life...even fathered two children behind bars.  Its ashame his vicitims didn't get the chance to live for the last 25 years.  If we are to have an effective death penalty, the standards for applying it should be a little higher (Petersen would not qualify here) and it should be carried out within 5 years of sentencing.

[Mad-Lad]

it's a good thing guys like Leonard Little get to stay out of prison.  I mean, he only drove drunk, smashed into another car and killed a woman.  He's talented though, so he gets to play professional football.

It's good to see the justice system still sucks ass.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Williams, 51, acknowledged a violent past but maintained he was innocent of the slayings. He became an anti-gang crusader while on death row.

While I am only a partial supporter of capital punishment, i.e, special cases, Scott Peterson, moms who drown their children, etc., I firmly believe a person can never fully be truely "reformed" until you first come to terms and attempt to accept responsibilty for your actions.

[Phanatic]

The current prison system manages to make better criminals out of those that go in for a short time. They get better contacts and training and get out ready to commit a better crime so that they can go back to prison and become teachers at the local criminal trade school. Maybe prisons should be doing more then lip service to reform. I like that guy that runs a work camp style prison in the Arizona desert. It's a tough place to be but you don't want to go BACK!

[henchmanUK]

He got to live his life...even fathered two children behind bars.

Well that's obviously wrong. I'm all four long prison sentences, hard labor etc... but murder is murder no matter who gets killed.

[Phanatic]

Hell "Tookie" got to start the whole Gang life thing from behind bars!!

[Butchers Bill]

He got to live his life...even fathered two children behind bars.

Well that's obviously wrong. I'm all four long prison sentences, hard labor etc... but murder is murder no matter who gets killed.

Whats wrong?  He did father two children while in custody and he was alive for those 25 years while the four people he killed did not.

[henchmanUK]

He got to live his life...even fathered two children behind bars.

Well that's obviously wrong. I'm all four long prison sentences, hard labor etc... but murder is murder no matter who gets killed.

Whats wrong?  He did father two children while in custody and he was alive for those 25 years while the four people he killed did not.

I meant it was wrong that he got to father two kids in custody etc... not that YOU were wrong.

[Rome]

I'm on the record on this topic.  The State has no right to execute one of its citizens.

That said, if there's ever going to be exceptions made, a guy like Tookie Williams would certainly qualify.

He was an evil motherfarger who probably killed 10 times the number of people he was actually convicted of killing, so if he didn't deserve the needle for these crimes, he most likely did for others.

[4and26]

I'll be just as happy when they waste Peterson.

When Mcveigh (sp) got the needle I was satisfied as well...there is no color issue in this case.

The problem with the death penalty is that it is not carried out fast enough.  Tookie was on death row for nearly a quarter century before his sentence was carried out.  He got to live his life...even fathered two children behind bars.  Its ashame his vicitims didn't get the chance to live for the last 25 years.  If we are to have an effective death penalty, the standards for applying it should be a little higher (Petersen would not qualify here) and it should be carried out within 5 years of sentencing.

Totally agree, well put!