Reformed gang leader executed

The case has generated widespread interest and fierce debate over the death penalty in the US because Williams has written a series of books warning young people against gangs.

Witnesses said guards struggled for about 12 minutes to place the needle in a vein in his left arm, frustrating Williams who occasionally spoke with the guards preparing his death, asking at one point: “Still can’t find it?”

After he was strapped down, he raised his head often, especially to look at Barbara Becnel, the editor of his books and foremost supporter who helped bring broad publicity to his case. After his death, Becnel and two other supporters broke the silence in the witness room, saying: “The state of California just killed an innocent man.”

Becnel and other supporters said Williams’ anti-gang work showed the inmate had changed fundamentally in the half of his life he has spent in prison. But Schwarzenegger and others said his continued protestations of innocence negated any claim that he had redeemed himself.

“Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case,” Schwarzenegger wrote on Monday in denying clemency.

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson said he broke the news on Monday afternoon that Schwarzenegger had denied clemency as Williams met several supporters in prison. “He said ‘Don’t cry, let’s remain strong,’” said Jackson. “He smiled, you know, with a certain strength, a certain resolve.”

Williams was convicted in 1981 of killing Albert Owens as he lay face down on the floor of a 7-Eleven convenience store in a US $120 robbery. Two weeks later, Williams shot dead an elderly Taiwanese immigrant couple running a motel, as well as their visiting daughter.

Some 2,000 opponents of the death penalty gathered outside the gates of San Quentin, where Jesse Jackson addressed the crowd and folk singer Joan Baez sang spirituals. —Reuters