Reuters: Still no Schwarzenegger word on gang leader's fate

[Eugene]

Still no Schwarzenegger word on gang leader's fate
Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:32 PM ET

By Kemp Powers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday delayed a keenly awaited
announcement on whether he would grant clemency to former Crips gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams,
who is due to be executed on Tuesday.

Williams' supporters seemed disheartened by the delay, which they said was putting severe stress
on them and Williams, who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979.

"I see that as cruel," Barbara Becnel, who edited Williams' anti-gang books, told a news conference
on Sunday afternoon. Becnel and other supporters presented what they called new last-minute
information they say merits a stay of execution.

<snip>

Barring clemency or last-minute court intervention, officials will administer a lethal injection
to Williams at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison.

<snip>

Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-12T013202Z_01_MCC908296_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-EXECUTION-TOOKIE.xml

[Journeyman]

1. Caryl Chessman was reprieved 9 times -- a couple of times in the chair...

it won't surprise me, if Schwarzenegger chooses to reprieve Williams, that it's done at the 11th hour. He'll do it that late to minimize protests from those who want to see Williams executed, since it'll be said he made Williams "sweat it." And if he chooses not to intervene, nothing will be said, since to reinforce the sentence would generate fresh protests, while to let the sentence proceed gives Schwarzenegger "deniability": "My hands were tied; the law had spoken."