Crips co-founder executed in California News
Crips co-founder executed in California

[JURIST] Crips gang co-founder and convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams [advocacy website] died at 12:35 AM Tuesday morning after being executed by lethal injection at California's San Quentin State Prison. The execution occurred a day after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to grant Williams clemency [statement of decision, PDF; JURIST report], finding that Williams had shown no remorse for the killings for which he was convicted. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [advocacy website] had urged [JURIST report] Schwarzenegger to grant clemency after the California Supreme Court had denied a stay [JURIST report] of Williams' execution. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the US Supreme Court also denied last-minute requests to stay the execution Monday. Williams was executed for killing four people in two separate 1979 robberies. Williams, who was convicted in 1981, spent two decades on death row where he wrote children's books about the dangers of gang life. About 1,000 death penalty opponents and a few death penalty supporters communed outside the prison to await the execution. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase…

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.