The decision to execute Williams

In its Dec. 13 editorial “It’s not about Tookie,” The Times stated that the governor denied clemency “because he does not consider capital punishment to be about our values as a society, but about the merits of the convicted supplicant.” California voters decided capital punishment was a “value” of our society.

For The Times to suggest the governor use anything but the voters’ mandate is absurd. The Times also stated, “The people of California don’t deserve to play the role of executioner.” Voters decided capital punishment was an acceptable punishment and accepted the responsibility of the decision.

The values of a society are decided in the voting booth, not the editorial page.

MARGE COOPER

Fullerton

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Supporters of Stanley Tookie Williams expressed the opinion that he was “redeemed” and that the state executed an innocent man. How can an innocent man be redeemed?

WILLIAM RIDGLEY

Riverside

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The last time I looked, the Sixth Commandment said “Thou shalt not kill.” I don’t recall seeing an asterisk after it saying, “*see exceptions below.”

AL SHEAHEN

Sherman Oaks

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I was appalled to see the Dec. 14 headline “Watching the Death of Inmate C29300.” The state did not execute a number; it murdered a living, breathing human being. In so doing, the state brought itself down to the criminal’s level.

As a so-called civilized society, we should be outraged that the death penalty is used, and impose mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Most Western countries have outlawed the use of the death penalty, and it’s high time that we joined them.

ALLEN P. WILKINSON

Whittier

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Re “A Barbaric End to a Barbaric Life,” Points West column, Dec. 14

One can imagine it is horrible to watch a man die. How many times did Williams do it and not feel horror? It’s not bloodlust or “puritanical beliefs” that keep the death penalty alive. It’s the fact that a human being who commits the ultimate crime -- and there are always particular “circumstances” in death penalty cases -- should pay the ultimate price for his crimes. It’s not about what we as spectators want. It’s about justice for the victims who were robbed of their lives. In a perfect world, there would be no executions; but in a perfect world, there wouldn’t be any murders either.

LAURIE STEVENS

Northridge

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Re “Aging, Ill Inmate Is Next in Line for Execution,” Dec. 12

The next person to be executed in California is Clarence Ray Allen, who is 75 years old, blind and uses a wheelchair. Ah shucks, are there no children or mentally retarded?

KEITH NOLAN

Carrick-on-Shannon

County Leitrim, Ireland

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Re “Death Penalty Moratorium on the Table,” Dec. 14

The Legislature’s reasoning for a moratorium on executions is flawed. Guilt or innocence is not the question, it is the approval of state-sanctioned murder. The chilling Dec. 10 article of the detailed preparations for the calculated killing of a human being, and the equally chilling account of Williams’ execution, should be enough to give death penalty advocates pause to contemplate just how inhumane, barbaric and coldblooded is deliberate execution.

JUDI LAING

Los Angeles