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Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 151
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 05:20 pm: | 
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The procedure for executing a prisoner in San Quentin, the only prison in California with a death chamber, is bound by rigid rules dictating when and how each act must be performed -- from the moment the inmate wakes up on his last day of life until the moment he dies.
Prison officials say this is to ensure a maximum amount of dispassionate efficiency in the inherently grim job of killing a person.
"We try to keep this very professional," said prison spokesman Sgt. Eric Messick. "I can't see it being done any other way -- you have to treat everyone, especially the inmate, with dignity and respect. This is a very somber event."
Eleven inmates have been executed in California since the state resumed executions in 1992 after a 25-year hiatus. Two were put to death by poison gas and nine by lethal injection.
If the execution goes through as scheduled, Stanley Tookie Williams will arise this morning to find that the entire Death Row of 648 condemned prisoners, and every other maximum security cell block, has been on tight lockdown since 12:01 a.m. He will be allowed to spend his last day meeting in the prison visiting room with friends and relatives until 6 p.m., when he will be moved to a special death watch cell next to the execution chamber.
There, three guards will watch him constantly through the rest of the evening, as he is offered a last meal and can watch television, play the radio or read. The only visitors he will be allowed are a spiritual adviser and the warden.
Williams told The Chronicle he plans to refuse a last meal or anything to drink on his final evening. He has also requested none of his friends or relatives watch the execution.
"I don't want food or water or sympathy from the place that is going to kill me," he said in an interview with the paper last month. "I don't want anyone present for the sick and perverted spectacle. The thought of that is appalling and inhumane. It is disgusting for a human to sit and watch another human die.''
At 11:30 p.m., Williams will be given a new pair of denim jeans and a new blue work shirt to wear.
At 11:45 p.m., the first group of witnesses will be led into the room where the death chamber is and positioned by guards on a set of risers or a railing along the thick glass windows of the chamber. These will be state officials, lawyers and people who have asked to watch the execution on behalf of Williams or his victims.
At 11:55 p.m., media witnesses will be escorted in and positioned on risers. Nobody may move after they have been placed. Fifty witnesses total are allowed, 17 of those from the press.
Precisely at midnight, prison officials will make one last call to the state Department of Justice and Department of Corrections headquarters to determine if any last-second stays have been issued. That process usually takes less than a minute, and at 12:01 a.m. Williams will be led by three guards into the lime-green execution chamber through its only door.
Space is tight in the 7.5-foot-wide, octagonal chamber, which was designed for two lethal gas chairs but has been nearly filled with a lethal injection gurney since William Bonin became the first California prisoner executed by injection on Feb. 24, 1996. Williams is a bulky man, so there will undoubtedly be slight jostling as he is laid upon the cross-shaped gurney, and his arms and legs are strapped down.
The guards will take about five minutes to secure him, and then they leave. One medic and an assistant then come in and attach a cardiac monitor, plus needles into two veins, usually one in each arm. This takes about five minutes -- unless there are difficulties, such as with Donald Beardslee on Jan. 19 this year. In that execution, the medic had trouble finding a good second vein, and dragged through a tense 11 minutes before finally seating the needle.
Once the needles are inserted, with long intravenous lines snaking from them into the back wall of the death chamber, the warden will ask Williams if he has any last words to say. Then the warden will leave, the door will be shut, and Williams will be left alone.
From behind the walls of the chamber, out of view of the witnesses, a prison official will press three plungers in succession to send poison through the intravenous lines into Williams' veins.
The first plunger will administer 5 grams of sodium pentothal to put him to sleep. The lines will be flushed with saline solution, and the second plunger will inject 50 cc of pancuronium bromide to stop his breathing. The lines will be flushed again, and the third plunger will send in 50cc of potassium chloride to stop his heart.
Once a doctor watching the cardiac monitor -- again, out of view of the witnesses -- determines Williams is dead, a prison official will write up a short notice announcing that the execution is over. He or she will push it through a slot in a door in the back of the witness room to a guard, who will read it to the gathering.
The witnesses will immediately be led outside, the media going first. Williams' body will be delivered in the next few hours to his relatives or anyone else who has been designated to handle his remains.
The entire execution usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes.
Kevin Fagan - San Francisco Chronicle |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 152
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 05:29 pm: |
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It leaves me cold... |
Sisg
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Sisg
Post Number: 226
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 07:46 pm: |
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I agree Babygirl...i feel the same. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3123
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 02:02 pm: |
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Well, ol Tookie, himself, is feeling pretty cold right now. It is also pretty chilling that they had trouble with the lethal injections because he was so muscle-bound, procedures were delayed since they had a hard time finding a vein to stick a needle into. I guess a lot of people feel that Tookie's execution avenges all of the hundreds murdered by the gang he founded. I have mixed emotions about the whole thihg. |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 153
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:37 pm: |
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As do I, Cynique. I have always been on the fence about the death penalty although I firmly believe justice is best served when the punishment fits the crime. What pains me most though is when you look at what he was able to accomplish after the fact, one can only imagine the unlimited possibilites he and others like him on death row or doing 20-life could have done in this world if only they had made other choices with their lives. And what a very different world this might actually be... |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1048
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 04:35 pm: |
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hmmm....this is unfortunate, but unsurprising. I wonder what it was that changed him...to me, rather than emphasize choices, it makes more sense to examine his consciousness before and after prison. It seems to me, that we often place too much emphasis on choice and not why people make certain choices. I, dare say, believe that people put too much worth in common sense. Common sense, it seems to me, is quite an uncommon practice. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1061
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:01 pm: |
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Common sense reveals to most reasonable people that he made the wrong choices because his choices were limited.
Never underestimate how much knowledge can be gleaned from common sense.
Tonya |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1062
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:04 pm: |
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.. not saying that I don't have mixed feelings (about this case), because I do. |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 171
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:08 pm: |
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Tookie was a cold-blooded killer, and he actually got much less than he deserved. He should have been "drawn and quartered". That unforgiving puffed-up carnivorous bastard left a cancer on the American landscape that could take ten lifetimes to eradicate. The Crips. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1063
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:32 pm: |
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I can't say that I disagree too much, Nels....
Like I said.. I have mixed feeling like most of the others on this thread..
but, the fact that he was the creator of probably the most viciously malicious street gang to ever destroy black people and black communities, does not sit well with me, at all (!!!).
Tonya |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1050
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 06:54 pm: |
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Taking the common and the sense out of common sense would be useful, here. As one of my elders would say, and she knows who she is, the brother had lots of "choices."
He could have stayed in school....even in a poorly furnished library, if you read all the books there you will have greater intellectual facility than a college professor. He could have gotten a GED and taken a civil service exam and work for the state, so was it limited choices or the actual choice?
What of his work ethic? Now, I move on to another elder's shibboleth (yeah bruh from one Harlem's finest to another), and yes he knows who he is. Obviously, Stan Smith had great organizational and business skills...he could have use same in a MBA program, right? There are thousands of young men and women with less who transcend their lived experiences....is this not common sense?
How bout that...is this not common sense? |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 956
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 07:08 pm: |
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If he wanted to randomly kill blacks and be a macho bully---he could joined the Los Angeles Police Department.
Seriously.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3125
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 07:22 pm: |
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Tookie is a prime example of an amoral young black man who had to go the jail to find his soul. Prisons have become finishing schools for these types. Once they have to confront their dire circumstances, out of desperation, they belatedly turn to honing their intellects and building their bodies. Even so, many of the guilty have proclaimed their innocence for so long that they start to believe it themselves. It's the tragedy of the black race that this situation is an ongoing one with no relief in sight. "A mind" is, indeed, "a terrible thing to waste". |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1051
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 07:26 pm: |
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lol! Cynique...I knew ya was gonna say something like that!
KB: U aint neva lie! |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 957
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 08:31 pm: |
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I know Yukio.
He could have walked up Figueroa or Crenshaw to Western Ave. and Wilshire....and Signed up.
He'd be alive today and would have LEGALLY shot up all the black folks he wanted to.
Male anger = male aggression
Police Officers and Gangbangers are the same people, mentally.
Read the Psychological Pathology studies.
A cop and a gang member are an exact mental match.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1065
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 08:51 pm: |
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Yukio,
"As one of my elders would say, and she knows who she is, the brother had lots of "choices."
He could have..."
Tonya:
Does one really have a choice if he doesn't understand it exists?
If you ask me what's the number one problem plaguing AAs, I'd say it's our lack of guidance & parenting skills; controversial, I know.. but it's the truth nonetheless: too many black parents and members of the black community are not guiding black children in the right direction, period.... So I ask again..
does one really have a choice if he doesn't understand it exists?
Tookie realized the many choices that were available to him only when he got older. Unfortunately, it was too late. Why didn't he recognized these choices earlier in life? Who's fault is it that he didn't? Did he really have many choices?
Tonya
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Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 154
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 09:13 pm: |
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Point the gun? NOT point the gun? Pull the trigger? NOT pull the trigger? Rob the store? NOT rob the store?
Tookie didn't need to be a brain surgeon to know these choices / options were available to him. He was a fool who chose a path of no return. Had he NOT pointed the gun and pulled the trigger and robbed the store, he may have actually been able to do more good than bad with his life.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1066
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 09:17 pm: |
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Of course, if he (Tookie) was a full grown adult when he did the things he is said to have done, my last statement shouldn't apply to him; but, in almost all of the cases which includes young black boys (and black girls) who are ending up in prison today, my statement most certainly applies.
Tonya |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1067
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 09:37 pm: |
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He was raised in an environment which taught him that he MUST point the gun in order to survive. To you it may be a no brainer, but to a young man who exists in a culture which teaches him that violence is the ONLY option, his pointing the gun is as practical as a surgeon voting against his conscious in order to have malpractice suits abolished; it's what he feels he needs to do to survive.
Tonya |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1053
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 11:15 pm: |
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Kola...you are funny...and unfortunately, what you say is true!
Tonya: I was playing devil's advocate, which is why I used Cynique's and Troy's shibboleths as the substance of my points.
In haste, you missed my initial point, which is quite similar to yours.
Compare:
Does one really have a choice if he doesn't understand it exists?
If you ask me what's the number one problem plaguing AAs, I'd say it's our lack of guidance & parenting skills; controversial, I know.. but it's the truth nonetheless: too many black parents and members of the black community are not guiding black children in the right direction, period.... So I ask again..
I wrote earlier:
to me, rather than emphasize choices, it makes more sense to examine his consciousness before and after prison. It seems to me, that we often place too much emphasis on choice and not why people make certain choices |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1068
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 01:33 am: |
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Yeah.. but my initial point was, never underestimate how much knowledge can be gleaned from common sense....
How it's used and what knowledge is gleaned from it depends largely on ones environment/circumstances/perspective. For example, doing what it takes to survive is instinctive. Common sense is shaped by whatever is necessary to survive. My survival in an environment similar to the earlier one of the man in question, forces me to aquire a kind of common sense which allows me to view things from an unpopular & disadvantaged perspective; and form a knowledge which makes it easy to fare well in far less stressful environments....
That's why I never complain about being poor, in fact, I count my blessings.
Tonya
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Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1056
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 11:58 am: |
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No doubt! Common sense is so subjective, though. And, it actually contradicts your point, where you ask "Does one really have a choice if he doesn't understand it exists?"
If one doesn't know something...then what can they do with common sense? Thus, as I pointed out, common sense is not as common as one would think. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1071
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:30 pm: |
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Yukio:
...it actually contradicts your pointThey can make common sense out of what they do know...
"If one doesn't know something...then what can they do with common sense?
________________
Common sense differs from place to place and person to person.
My common sense might be different from yours; mine's could very well be what's common to my environment. So in a sense you are right -- common sense is not common; it's only common to one's environment; therefore, as a person changes environments, what's common sense may change as well....
Or it may not.
Tonya |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 1072
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:37 pm: |
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Oops! I completely fucked up the first portion of my post. It's suppose to read like this:
"...it actually contradicts your point....
If one doesn't know something...then what can they do with common sense?"
Answer:
They can make common sense out of what they do know...
Tonya
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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1686
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 01:55 pm: |
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If Stan hadn't co founded the Crips he might have stood a chance--Arnold would have had to leave California if he'd commuted his sentence.
I hope Stan's conversion was real and not a ploy just to try to get his sentence commuted. If so he shouldn't have given them the satisfaction. He should have went out like a gangsta. |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 986
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 15, 2005 - 06:48 pm: |
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I would ask all human beings...to stop what they're doing and PLEASE care about this man's plight:
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/2152/8616.html?1134690058 |
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