Reformed Gang Leader Faces Death

A convicted murderer who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work in turning young gang members away from violence must be executed, a Californian court has ruled.

In 1979 Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, a founder of one of Los Angeles's most famous gangs, the Crips, was convicted of four murders.

He was sentenced to death for killing a store employee and a motel owner and his wife and daughter during armed robberies. He denies being involved.

Last week the US ninth circuit court of appeals to whom Williams had appealed against his conviction and sentence upheld the death penalty.

Now his fate is in the hands of the Californian governor, Gray Davis, who is standing for re-election at a time when there has been a new spate of gang-related killing in LA and nearby Orange county.

During his time in prison Williams, now 48, has become involved in the effort to persuade young gang members to reject violence.

From his cell in San Quentin jail he has created the Internet Project for Street Peace; his own internet site, tookie.com, rejecting violent gang culture; and co-written a series of children's books under the subtitle Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence.

"Don't join a gang," he says in his books. "You won't find what you're looking for. All you will find is trouble, pain and sadness. I know. I did."

Last year Mario Fehr, a Swiss member of parliament, nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Williams's supporters say he is a changed man and that executing him would undo much of the good work he has accomplished.

Judge Procter Hug, writing on behalf of the three-person appeal panel, ruled this week: "Williams is not entitled to relief from his conviction or sentence in the federal courts." He suggested that Williams could still appeal to Mr Davis.

The judgment added: "Although Williams's good works and accomplishments make him a worthy candidate for gubernatorial discretion, they are not matters that we in the federal judiciary are at liberty to take into consideration."

Williams's lawyer, Maria Stratton, said after the hearing: "While it's very kind of the court to suggest that we apply for clemency - which of course we will - but we think the court should have granted relief and we will ask for a rehearing urging them to do so."

The prosecution team welcomed the decision to uphold the death penalty.

The decision whether to execute Williams now essentially rests with Mr Davis, a Democrat who has rejected all five clemency appeals from death row inmates that have crossed his desk since he took office.

The death penalty enjoys popular support in California, as in the rest of America, and few senior politicians are prepared to risk the ire of the electorate by opposing it.

The state attorney general's office also shows little sign of supporting a clemency plea.

Father Greg Boyle, who has worked on anti-gang violence intiatives for many years in the Boyle Heights area of east LA, said yesterday that he hoped Governor Davis would heed the call for clemency, because "a person is a whole lot more than the worst thing they ever did". But he said that the governor's record did not bode well for Williams.

"Davis is completely spineless on this issue," he said. "Every time he's been given the opportunity to do the right and the decent thing, he doesn't do it. He continues to do the wrong thing."