# Execution of Marcellus Williams

A man named Marcellus Williams was charged with the murder of Felicia Gayle based on the testimonies of two witnesses, claiming that Williams had confessed to the crime. Williams was sentenced to death in August 2001.

## Death row, appeals, and stays of execution

Williams was held on death row at Potosi Correctional Center since the end of his trial. He had always maintained his innocence in the Gayle case until he accepted an Alford plea of guilty in August 2024. His case has been appealed unsuccessfully several times. He was first scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2015. In appeals, his defense produced evidence that DNA taken from the knife at the scene revealed an unknown male profile and did not match that of Williams. Williams was scheduled to be executed on August 22, 2017.
Questions continued to be raised, as the state Supreme Court would not hear the new DNA evidence nor stay the execution. The prosecutor said they were confident about the case despite the DNA. Gov. Eric Greitens issued a last-minute stay of execution that day. The governor initiated a Board of Inquiry to examine the new DNA evidence and other aspects of the case. The Board was headed by Carol E. Jackson, former federal judge of the Eastern District of Missouri. The Board consists of five retired federal judges to review the case. It has subpoenaed both prosecution and defense. The Board was also to meet with the state and defense attorneys in June 2018. Greitens resigned as governor in June 2018. The DNA evidence and new analysis suggested that another man was a suspect; DNA on the knife did not match that of Williams. The Board had hearings in August 2018. Governor Mike Parson was to receive the Board's conclusion, and make his decision. As of September 2021, the Board were still looking into new findings.
In June 2023, Parson decided to dissolve the panel of five judges without receiving their report and lifted the stay on Williams' execution. He said it was time for the court to make a decision. Later, State Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to set a date for Williams' execution.
In August 2023, The Midwest Innocence Project filed a lawsuit, stating that the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney is on record as stating he has convincing evidence of Williams' innocence. According to the Innocence Project, the Missouri Attorney General's Office has a record of dismissing DNA evidence that points to an accused person's innocence.
On January 26, 2024, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, asking the Court to vacate Marcellus Williams' death sentence. A 2021 Missouri law allows a prosecutor to intervene where there is information suggesting a convicted person may be innocent. He cited potential "ineffective assistance of counsel", apparent bias in jury selection, and potential weakness of the police investigation. He asked the Court for a hearing to consider the new evidence and other aspects of the investigation and trial. The new evidence consisted of a special prosecutor's review of the case, including the findings of 3 independent DNA experts who unanimously concluded that the male DNA on the murder weapon was not Williams', but that of the detectives that handled the weapon at the time of the case. A hearing was scheduled for August 21, 2024 to determine his innocence.
On June 4, 2024, Williams was again scheduled to be executed on September 24, 2024. On July 2, the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, scheduled a hearing for August 21, 2024, to evaluate the "clear and convincing evidence" of Williams' innocence. On July 12, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that his execution will move forward despite the pending lawsuit to overturn his conviction. In the court's opinion overruling the motion, justice Zel Fischer ruled that "they do not have the procedural authority to withdraw the execution order at this time."
On August 21, 2024, Williams accepted a plea bargain offered by the prosecution to commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The prosecutors argued in favour of Williams during the hearing that the DNA testing of the murder weapon did not match him, and they duly considered this fact before offering an "Alford plea" to vacate the death sentence in Williams's case. However, the state attorney general opposed this decision and wanted the execution to move forward as scheduled.
The Missouri Supreme Court blocked the plea deal agreement on the same day, and the execution date of Williams was still slated as September 24, 2024, and a hearing scheduled to hear the innocence claims of Williams.
On September 12, 2024, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton rejected the appeal of Williams, stating that the counsel has rehashed their arguments from previous appeals, all of which were rejected multiple times by the state and federal courts, and ordered that the execution should move forward as scheduled.

## Final reviews and execution

On September 24, 2024, Parson denied Williams clemency and the case was reviewed by the United States Supreme Court hours before the scheduled execution. The Supreme Court denied the request to halt the execution, although Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson stated that they would have granted the request. Williams was executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CT at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Williams' last statement, which was written down and witnessed on September 21, 2024, was, "All praise be to Allah in every situation!!!" Less than an hour after William's execution, convicted child murderer Travis James Mullis was executed for the 2008 murder of his son.