California prison officials executed former Crips gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams (51) early today after top courts and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected final appeals to spare his life.
Williams (51), who brutally killed four people in 1979, was executed at 12.35am today (8.35am Irish time) by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco.
The execution followed a frenzied but failed effort to reopen the case by supporters of Williams, who repudiated gang life during his 24 years on death row.
The case has generated widespread interest and fierce debate over the death penalty in the United States because Williams had written a series of books warning young people against gangs.
Witnesses said guards struggled for about 12 minutes to place the needle in a vein in his left arm, frustrating Williams who occasionally spoke with the guards preparing his death, asking at one point: "Still can't find it?"
After he was strapped down, he raised his head often, especially to look at Barbara Becnel, the editor of his books and foremost supporter who helped bring broad publicity to his case.
After his death, Mr Becnel and two other supporters broke the silence in the witness room, saying: "The state of California just killed an innocent man."
A relative of one of the victims wept as the prisoner's supporters made their defiant statement. Ms Becnel and other supporters said Williams's anti-gang work showed the inmate had changed fundamentally in the half of his life he has spent in prison.
But Mr Schwarzenegger and others said his continued protestations of innocence negated any claim that he had redeemed himself. "Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologise or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case,"
Mr Schwarzenegger wrote yesterday in denying clemency. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings there can be no redemption.
"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," he said.
Civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson said he broke the news yesterday afternoon that Mr Schwarzenegger had denied clemency as Williams met several supporters in prison.
"He said 'Don't cry, let's remain strong,'" Rev Jackson said. "He smiled, you know, with a certain strength, a certain resolve."
Williams was convicted in 1981 of killing a man as he lay face down on the floor of a 7-Eleven convenience store in a $120 robbery. Two weeks later, Williams shot dead an elderly Taiwanese immigrant couple running a motel, as well as their visiting daughter.