Gang co-founder executed in Calif.

Williams's case became one of the nation's biggest death row cause célèbre in decades. In addition to traditional arguments against capital punishment, the case generated debates and protests over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.

But Schwarzenegger suggested that Williams's supposed change of heart was not genuine, noting that Williams had not owned up to his crimes or shown any real remorse for the countless killings committed by the Crips.

''Is Williams's redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise?" Schwarzenegger wrote less than 12 hours before the execution. ''Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."

Williams's supporters were disappointed with the governor's refusal to commute the death sentence to life in prison without parole.

''The governor's 96-hour wait to give an answer was a cowardly act and was tortuous," said former ''M*A*S*H" star Mike Farrell, a death penalty opponent. ''I would suggest that had he the courage of his convictions he could have gone over to San Quentin and met with Stanley Williams himself and made a determination rather than letting his staff legal adviser write this garbage."

Williams was the 12th person executed in California since lawmakers reinstated the death penalty in 1977.

He was condemned in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and the couple's daughter, Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned.

Williams has maintained his innocence.

Just before the governor announced his decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Williams's request for a reprieve, saying there was no ''clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence."

Later in the evening, additional last-ditch requests to halt the execution were rejected by the US Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit, and Schwarzenegger.