If Tookie Goes, Will L.A. Go Too?

As I mentioned earlier, the governor is mulling a possible clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the Crips street gang who is now facing a December 13th execution. For the record, here are the facts behind Tookie's crimes, courtesy of an L.A. cop who writes for National Review under the nom de cyber Jack Dunphy:

On February 28, 1979, Stanley "Tookie" Williams and three other men drove in two cars to a 7-Eleven store in the city of Whittier, California, a suburb southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The lone clerk on duty at the time was 26-year-old Albert Owens, who was sweeping the store's parking lot when the men arrived. Owens apparently believed the men to be legitimate customers, for he put down his broom and dust pan and followed them into the store. Williams, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, forced Owens into a back storeroom. After ordering Owens to lie on the floor, Williams fired a shotgun blast into the store's security monitor. Then, though Owens had offered no resistance at all, Williams fired two blasts into the prostrate man's back, killing him. When an accomplice asked Williams why he had shot Owens, Williams explained that he didn't want to leave any witnesses. The accomplice would also later testify that Williams told him he killed Owens "because he was white and he was killing all white people."

Williams and his three accomplices netted about $120 in cash for their efforts that night.

Less than two weeks later, at about five in the morning on March 11, Williams went to the Brookhaven Motel at 10411 South Vermont Avenue, less than a ten-minute drive due east from Los Angeles International Airport. After breaking into the motel's office, Williams shot and killed 76-year-old Yen-I Yang and his 63-year-old wife, Tsai-Shai Yang. Next he killed their daughter, 43-year-old Yee-Chen Lin. As in the Owens killing, the murder weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun. The take in this crime was about $100.

Williams was identified as a suspect in the killings and arrested. In March 1981 a jury convicted him of all four murders and also found true the "special circumstances" that under California law exposed him to the death penalty, to wit, multiple murders and murder committed during the act of robbery. The jury recommended the death penalty, and on April 15, 1981, the trial judge did in fact sentence Williams to death.

For the doubters among you who are buying the idea that Tookie was yet another victim of corrupt cops, D.A. Steve Cooley has assembled a point-by-point analysis of the evidence against Williams. It's pretty compelling.

During a conversation on this subject that I had while in Oklahoma this week, HolyCoast Mom wondered what might happen in Tookie's old home town of South Central L.A. should he make his date with the grim reaper. Will that event trigger the next great outbreak of "civil unrest" in L.A.? Things have been pretty calm down there since 1992, but you get the feeling that there are elements that are just waiting for an excuse to start the looting, shooting and burning. The "Christmas Riots" have a nice media ring to it.

You can bet the LAPD won't get caught with their pants down as they did in 1992 when the Rodney King verdicts came in and the city exploded, but they'll be hard pressed to stop a major outbreak should it occur. And as in the 1992 riots, most participants probably won't give a rat's behind about Tookie, but will be looking to take advantage of the situation to update their TV collection.

Should the governor grant clemency to Tookie for whatever reason, we better hope the GOP can come up with a good candidate for governor because Arnold will be political toast.

UPDATE: All Hail King Tookie!