Supreme Court rejects Williams' plea

Today, Dec 12, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay the execution Monday of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams. Earlier, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency on Monday and a federal appeals court panel rejected a request to stay his execution.
Williams, who co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles, is scheduled to die on Dec 13, 2005 at 12:01 a.m., a Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET) at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco.

Williams, and his supporters, claim that he co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles.
Williams was convicted of killing four people in two 1979 robberies in Los Angeles.

While in prison, Williams became an anti-gang crusader, but he has consistently refused to take part in a debriefing with authorities to provide them potentially valuable information about the Crips gangs, said lead prosecutor John Monaghan.
While maintaining his innocence in the four murders, Williams has denounced gang violence and written children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups. He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did.
Celebrities, teachers and anti-death penalty advocates have spoken on Williams' behalf, but Schwarzenegger questioned the sincerity of Williams' conversion to nonviolence.
"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," the governor wrote.
"Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."
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My view is that once a you take a life, you do not have claim over your own. Once you have
been convicted, then based on the brutality of the crime, the proper punishment needs to
be meted out. The more serious the crime, the more serious the punishment.

In this case, irrespective of the changed nature of the person, a crime is a crime for which you must pay
Your thoughts ?