I'm not at all in favor of the death penalty. I think it's a terrible tragedy in a time and place in the United States where it's simply not necessary. We have plenty of prison space and it's more economical to keep them locked up (and arguably more punishing). However, I don't understand the sympathy toward Tookie Williams. The guy was a cold-blooded murderer. He murdered people and then bragged about the gurgling noise the blood made as his victims gasped their last breaths.

Williams, Darryl, Coward, and Sims then fled in the two cars and returned home to Los Angeles. They had netted approximately $120 in the robbery. Once back in Los Angeles, Sims asked Williams why he had shot Owens. Williams said that he “didn’t want to leave any witnesses.” Williams also said he killed Owens “because he was white and he was killing all white people.” Coward testified that Williams had bragged about the shooting, stating, “You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him,” as he made gurgling or growling noises and laughed about Owens’ death.

These are victims who never got to talk to their parents, never got to talk to Jesse Jackson in their final days, never got to rectify any sins with God in their final moments, and never got to wave at people as they walked toward their final moments before death. I don't feel sorry for Tookie Williams. I feel sorry for his soul, and I do hope he repented. But this was a guy who claimed that his life had changed when it was convenient, yet would not reveal the identities of other dangerous people in society. Hopefully Mr. Williams is with God, but let me first think about those four people he murdered in cold blood. Please don't canonize him just yet.