Missouri Executed A Black Man Who Claimed Innocence, Ignoring Exculpatory Evidence
After being incarcerated for a number of years, the state of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death by lethal injection.
(Marcellus WIlliams, as he appeared before his death in 2024. Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Corrections.)
On January 25, 2024 of this year, the St. Louis Prosecutor’s Office issued a motion to vacate the 1998 conviction of Marcellus Williams for the murder of Felicia Gayle. The motion reads, in part:
The crime scene was rife with physical evidence. The weapon- a kitchen knife was left lodged in Ms. Gayle’s neck. Bloody shoeprints were present near a knife sheath in the kitchen, in the hallway leading to the front foyer, and on the rug near Ms. Gayle’s body. Bloody fingerprints were found along the wall. And hairs believed to belong to the perpetrator were collected from Ms. Gayle’s t-shirt, her hands, and the floor. None of this physical evidence tied Mr. Williams to Ms. Gayle’s murder.
Mr. Williams was excluded as the source of the footprints, Mr. Williams was excluded by microscopy as the source of the hairs found near Ms. Gayle’s body (which did not match Ms. Gayle or her husband, the home’s only residents, and thus were presumably the perpetrator’s), and Mr. Williams was not found to be the source of the fingerprints. Now, three DNA experts have reviewed the DNA testing performed on the knife and each has independently concluded that Mr. Williams is excluded as the source of the male DNA on the handle of the murder weapon. Ms. Gayle’s murderer left behind considerable physical evidence. None of that physical evidence can be tied to Mr. Williams. Prosecutors are “bound by the ethics of [their] office to inform the appropriate authority of after acquired or other information that casts doubt upon the correctness of the conviction.” Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 427 n.25 (1976). In this respect, public confidence in the justice system is restored, not undermined, when a prosecutor is accountable for a wrongful or constitutionally infirm conviction.
As set forth in detail below, the indirect evidence used to convict Mr. Williams has become increasingly unreliable.
DNA tests showed the murder weapon, the kitchen knife referred to in the document, was handled by the prosecution in 1998 without gloves, contaminating it as evidence.
The motion was eventually denied. Appeals to the state Supreme Court by members of Williams’ defense went nowhere. The defense appealed to the American Supreme Court, a conservative partisan organization known for ruling in favor of Republican Party agendas. That appeal went unheard. Governor Mike Parson, a lifelong Republican, refused to grant Williams clemency.
He was executed on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
The Innocence Project wrote in an official statement:
Mr. Williams’ story echoes that of too many others caught in our country’s broken criminal legal system. A Black man convicted of killing a white woman, Mr. Williams maintained his innocence until the very end. His conviction was based on the testimony of two eyewitnesses who were paid for their testimony. No DNA evidence linked him to the crime. And the current St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney acknowledged that errors made by the trial prosecutors – including mishandling the murder weapon and intentionally excluding Black prospective jurors in violation of the Constitution – contributed to a wrongful conviction.
Nonetheless, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office relentlessly pursued Mr. Williams’ execution and opposed clemency. The Attorney General and Missouri Governor Mike Parson – who ultimately denied the request for clemency – ignored the wishes of the victim’s husband who has consistently made clear that he opposed the death penalty for Mr. Williams.
Congresswoman Cori Bush, who represents St. Louis, wrote on Twitter:
Governor Mike Parson shamefully allowed an innocent man to be executed tonight. We must abolish this flawed, racist, inhumane practice once and for all. Rest in power, Marcellus Williams. #AbolishTheDeathPenalty
Williams was 55 at the time of his death.