Missouri Supreme Court Rules Marcellus Williams’ Execution to Proceed

The execution of Marcellus Williams is scheduled to move forward on Tuesday after both the Missouri Supreme Court and the state’s governor denied requests to halt the execution process.

Williams’ attorney argued on Monday that the lethal injection should be stopped due to a trial attorney’s decision to exclude a Black potential juror who resembled Williams. He is set to be executed at 6 p.m. for the stabbing death of Lisha Gayle in 1998, a crime committed in University City, a suburb of St. Louis.

At 55 years old, Williams continues to assert his innocence. However, during the arguments presented to the state’s highest court, his attorney chose to focus on alleged errors in the jury selection process and the claimed mishandling of evidence by the prosecution, rather than directly contesting Williams’ innocence.

Attorney Jonathan Potts emphasized that the state Supreme Court should intervene to “correct an injustice” by either deeming that a juror was improperly excluded based on race or by sending the matter back to a lower court for further review.

In response, the office of Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that the execution should proceed without delay. The prosecutor from Williams’ trial denied any racial bias in the juror dismissal, asserting that he acted within legal bounds at that time. He maintained that touching the evidence without gloves was not improper after it had already been tested by a crime lab.

Williams’ legal team has also filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Additionally, he sought clemency from Republican Governor Mike Parson, emphasizing that Gayle’s family desires his sentence to be changed to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, Governor Parson announced on Monday that the execution would go ahead, upholding the decision of the state Supreme Court.

In a statement, Parson remarked, “Capital punishment cases are some of the hardest issues we have to address in the Governor’s Office, but when it comes down to it, I follow the law and trust the integrity of our judicial system.” He added that Williams has exhausted all legal avenues in over 15 hearings arguing his innocence, with no court finding merit in those claims. Consequently, the guilty verdict and death sentence remain intact.

The NAACP also urged Governor Parson to intervene and halt the execution.

This execution would mark Missouri’s third this year and the 100th since the state resumed capital punishment in 1989.

Williams previously faced execution in January 2015, but the state Supreme Court postponed it to allow for additional DNA testing. In August 2017, he was just hours from execution when then-Governor Eric Greitens granted a stay due to new DNA evidence indicating that Williams’ DNA was not present on the knife connected to the murder. After Greitens appointed a panel of retired judges to review the case, he resigned from his position, and the panel did not reach a conclusion.

Concerns surrounding the DNA evidence led St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to request a hearing to challenge Williams’ conviction. However, shortly before the scheduled hearing, new testing revealed the DNA evidence was compromised because it had been improperly handled during the original trial.

In the absence of usable DNA evidence, attorneys for the Midwest Innocence Project negotiated an agreement with prosecutors for Williams to enter a no-contest plea to first-degree murder, which would result in life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This agreement received approval from Judge Bruce Hilton as well as Gayle’s family. Nonetheless, following the urging of Attorney General Bailey, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked this deal, mandating a hearing, which was held on August 28.

Ultimately, on September 12, Judge Hilton ruled that both the first-degree murder conviction and the death sentence would stand, stating that previous arguments had been consistently rejected.

On Tuesday, Williams’ attorney reiterated that new circumstances arise from the trial prosecutor’s prior testimony regarding a Black juror’s dismissal. Keith Larner, who prosecuted the 2001 first-degree murder case, testified at the August hearing, affirming that the jury was fair, despite it consisting of only one Black member. He admitted to striking one potential Black juror because he believed the juror bore a resemblance to Williams.

The clemency petition emphasized the wishes of Gayle’s family for a life sentence instead of execution. Governor Parson, who has been in office during 11 executions, has never granted clemency. Prosecutors from Williams’ original trial recounted the violent events of August 11, 1998, when Williams allegedly broke into Gayle’s home and fatally attacked her. Gayle, a social worker and former journalist, was stabbed a total of 43 times.

Evidence presented at trial suggested that Williams attempted to conceal his involvement by stealing a jacket to cover blood stains and later selling Gayle’s laptop. Testimonies were also presented by individuals with a history of criminal convictions, who claimed Williams admitted to the murder.

Governor Parson maintains that claims of witness motivation for financial gain are untrue, as the girlfriend never sought any reward for information regarding the case.