CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday refused to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang.

A CONVICTED killer from North Carolina is today set to become the 1,000th person executed in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, barring an unlikely intervention from the federal courts or the state governor.

Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips street gang, moved a step closer to the death chamber when the California Supreme Court refused to reopen his case in four murders and halt the state’s highest-profile execution since the death penalty was reinstated nearly three decades ago.

Snoop Dogg is set to attend a rally at California's San Quentin State Prison on Saturday to protest against the execution of a former gang leader.

US husband Scott Peterson was sentenced to death today for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, more than two years ago.

A SENIOR Austrian politician has called for Arnold Schwarzenegger to be stripped of citizenship in his native Austria for approving the execution of a convicted killer.

A man convicted of murdering two women in 1981 over a drug deal was executed in California today, becoming the first inmate to be put to death by California in three years.