SAN QUENTIN, California: Stanley Tookie Williams - the co-founder of the violent Crips street gang who became an anti-gang crusader while on death row - died by lethal injection early Tuesday for the 1979 killings of four people in two Los Angles robberies.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the unofficial time of death was 0535 hrs (IST)
Williams, 51, while acknowledging he had a violent past, had maintained he was innocent in the slayings.
It marked the second execution in California this year, and just the 12th since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s.
Williams' case set off intense debates over the death penalty and redemption, with celebrities, activists and anti-death penalty advocates saying his initiatives and anti-gang message from behind bars had proven his life was worth saving.
He had even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature by an array of college professors, a Swiss lawmaker and others.
Seventeen reporters witnessed the execution and gave their accounts afterward.
The process of inserting the IVs to administer the lethal chemicals took about 20 minutes, with staff having particular difficulty getting a needle into Williams' left arm.
Crystal Carreon of the Sacramento Bee newspaper said Williams was restless during the preparations -- a sentiment echoed by San Quentin State Prison Warden Steven Ornoski.
"He did seemed frustrated that it didn't go as quickly as he thought it might," Ornoski.
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A crowd of demonstrators began gathering outside the gates of the prison early Monday evening, with celebrities, activists and anti-death-penalty advocates pleading for Williams' life to be spared.
"I am saddened that we are continuing to demean human life by pretending that we are God and making determinations to kill other individuals for what it is claimed they have done," former M*A*S*H star and death penalty opponent Mike Farrell told CNN.
The announcement of Williams' death was punctuated in the witness gallery by three of his invited supporters, who shouted in unison, "The state of Californian just killed an innocent man," as they exited.
Minutes earlier in the gallery, reporters said at least one of the three had given Williams a raised fist salute.
The execution went ahead as scheduled after the US Supreme Court late Monday rejected a last-ditch appeal.
The high court's ruling followed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny clemency for Williams.
"Based on the cumulative weight of the evidence, there is no reason to second-guess the jury's decision of guilt or raise significant doubts or serious reservations about Williams' convictions and death sentence," Schwarzenegger said in a five-page statement explaining his decision.
Before Williams went to the execution chamber, the stepmother of one of the men Williams was convicted of killing said she felt "justice is going to be done tonight."
"I had faith that when Governor Arnold looked at the facts of the case that he was going to decide not to do clemency," said Lora Owens, whose stepson, Albert Owens, was shot to death in a convenience store holdup.
"I don't like it being said it's a political decision. It was an evidence decision."
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