One afternoon in the mid-1970s, Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a keen bodybuilder and the co-founder of the Crips gang, was walking along the broadwalk at Venice Beach, Santa Monica, near Los Angeles. He passed the then Mr Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was out for a stroll with a friend. "See that guy there?" Mr Schwarzenegger said, pointing to Williams' bulging muscles. "Those aren't arms, they're legs."
Now, more than a quarter of a century later, the paths of the man who became a movie star and politician and the man who became a convicted multiple murderer are about to cross again.
At 12.01am on December 13, Williams will be executed by lethal injection for the murders of four people during two robberies committed more than a quarter of a century ago. The only person who can spare him, should he choose to exercise his power of clemency, is the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Mr Schwarzenegger faces a tough choice, for Williams, 51, is a model of jailhouse redemption. Although he has always maintained his innocence, he has renounced his gang life and written children's books aimed at steering them away from gangs. He has counselled gang members from behind bars, been nominated five times for the Nobel peace prize, and his life story has been made into a film starring Jamie Foxx.
"His status was legendary," said Najee Ali, a former gang member turned community activist who served two years in prison. "He was the first ghetto superstar. He's what we call a big homie. So many preachers, politicians and law enforcement officers talk about stopping gang violence but they don't have any experience of it. But when you have the founder of the most well-known gang in history, it speaks a lot."
At the time of the crimes, Williams was a feared figure on the streets of what was then known as South Central Los Angeles. As the co-founder of the Crips, he carried a fearsome reputation for violence and the control he exerted over the gang.
The crimes for which he was convicted were heinous. On February 28 1979, said the prosecution at his trial, Williams and two other men robbed a 7-11 convenience store in Pico Rivera, east of Los Angeles. Williams took the store assistant, 26-year-old father of two Albert Owens, into a cold room and shot him twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. Williams got away with around $100.
On March 11 1979, the prosecution alleged, Williams shot the owners of a small motel in Los Angeles, Tsai-Shen Yang and her husband Yen-Yi Yang, as well as their 43-year-old daughter Ye-Chen Lin, before stealing about $100. At his trial in 1981, Williams was found guilty of the four murders and given four death sentences.
But his conviction, Williams has argued, was unsafe. Forensic evidence was never linked to him, he has said, and claims the prosecution relied on the testimony of informants whose integrity was compromised. His lawyers have also argued that jury selection was tainted: the prosecutor, Robert Martin, dismissed the three African-Americans in the jury pool. The prosecutor also compared Williams to a "Bengal tiger in captivity in a zoo".
Once inside prison, Williams continued his gang activity, behaviour that brought him six and a half years in solitary confinement. It was during this time, he has said, that he began to see the error of his ways. In 1997, he wrote an open apology for his gang activities, but not for the killings of which he was convicted.
"I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did," he wrote. "I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions."
Those solutions included writing nine children's books aimed at preventing young people joining gangs. He has published a memoir of his time in prison and, last year, an autobiography titled Blue Rage, Black Redemption (blue is the colour of the Crips gang).
In August this year Williams received a President's Call to Service Award in recognition of his work with young people. The accompanying citation from President George Bush noted that: "Through service to others, you demonstrate the outstanding character of America and help strengthen our country." Two months later, in October, the supreme court rejected his final appeal without hearing it. After serving 24 years on death row in San Quentin, Williams has exhausted the appeals process. Governor Schwarzenegger is his only hope.
"Arnold is really caught in a bind," said author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson. "He's up for re-election next year and he's not going to win without iron-clad support from his conservative base. And when you look at the climate, California is still a death penalty state. I can't see a win-win for Arnold Schwarzenegger granting clemency to Tookie Williams. It doesn't fly. Tookie Williams, to be brutally frank, is doomed."
In the two clemency appeals Mr Schwarzenegger has heard, he has ruled against a reprieve. Williams has until tomorrow to file his request for clemency. The LA district attorney's office, which brought the original prosecution, has until November 17 to file a response, to which Williams' legal team can respond by November 21. In a parallel move, other lawyers representing Williams will present a "discovery motion" detailing new evidence that was not heard at his trial and has only now been uncovered.
Williams' petition for clemency is not expected to address his guilt or innocence. Instead, his lawyers are likely to focus on his rehabilitation.
"The governor will take all the facts that are submitted to him into consideration and after consultation reach a decision," a spokeswoman for Mr Schwarzenegger said.
His two previous decisions do not bode well for Williams. In rejecting Donald Beardslee's appeal for clemency in January this year, Mr Schwarzenegger wrote: "I am not moved to mercy by the fact that Beardslee has been a model prisoner. I expect no less."
Williams' supporters wonder what sort of anti-rehabilitation message a denial of clemency will send. Standing on the corner of West 43rd Street in LA, a small group of them gathered last week. Zane Smith is a former gang member and contemporary of Williams.
"Me and Tookie had our histories," he said. "But when they talked about putting him to death, I had to put it aside. Tookie was never a killer. He was a bodybuilder. Arnold Schwarzenegger was his hero."
California and capital punishment
1893 The first state execution takes place in California when Jose Gabriel is hung at San Quentin prison
1941 Ethel Spinelli becomes the first woman to be executed in California
1967 Ronald Reagan, a Republican, becomes the only California governor to grant clemency
1972 California supreme court declares capital punishment cruel and in violation of the state constitution. Death row inmates are re-sentenced
1977 State re-enacts the death penalty
1992 Executions resume in California
January 19 2005 Donald Beardslee becomes the first prisoner to be executed under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the 11th since the reinstatement of the death penalty
October 11 2005 The US supreme court rejects appeals from three convicted murderers incarcerated in California. Stanley "Tookie" Williams is the only one to have an execution date. The other two are expected to be given dates in the next three months
December 13 2005 Williams is due to be executed by lethal injection