February 25th: Stan "Tookie" Williams' request was denied by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In spite of the objections of nine judges who believe Williams' 1981 death sentence may have been tainted by racial bias, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider his bid for a new trial for the 1979 killings of four people during two separate robberies.Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, he could receive an execution date as early as this summer. The Bay Area Anti-Death Penalty Coalition and others are organizing to fight against Tookie's execution.

February 2nd: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today declined to grant a new hearing based on Stanley Tookie Williams' claim that prosecutors violated his rights when they dismissed all potential black jurors for his trial. A three-judge panel of the court had previously approved his execution without giving full consideration to the issue of the selection of the jury. Williams's attorney, Andrea Asaro, will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for killing a convenience store worker in 1979, and also was convicted of killing three other people. He claims jailhouse informants fabricated testimony that he confessed. After he spent six and a half years in solitary confirement, he has written a series of children's books and has made many efforts to curtail youth gang violence. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story was shown on the fX cable channel last year. Williams has also published a memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption

"Save Tookie" Petition to the Governor | New Abolitionist article, Making change from death row | ACLU's Death Penalty Page | Tookie.com | California Department of Corrections Capital Punishment Page