ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
Did Missouri execute an innocent man? Marcellus Williams’s furious supporters decry ‘injustice system’
Justin Rohrlich
Wed 25 September 2024
Deacon Dave Billips, with the Office of Peace and Justice with the St. Louis Archdiocese, holds a sign as he stands with protesters holding space to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24 (AP)
When the state of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death on Tuesday night, it did so over the strenuous objections of the same prosecutor’s office that tried him for the 1998 murder of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, along with Williams’ legal team, had moved, unsuccessfully, to have the 55-year-old’s conviction vacated based on new information they said raised questions about his identification as Gayle’s killer. At 6:01 p.m. local time, Williams was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital while his son, an up-and-coming prizefighter named Marcellus Jr., watched from the witness gallery. Nine minutes later, Williams was pronounced dead.
“There was reasonable doubt,” Obie Alexander, a staunch Williams supporter who spent nearly two decades in prison on a wrongful murder conviction, told The Independent. “How can you execute a man when there is reasonable doubt?”
No one was there from Gayle’s family, who continued to believe in Williams’s guilt up until the very end but had been pushing for his sentence to be commuted to life without parole.
In a statement issued shortly before Williams was executed, his attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said, “We must all question any system that would allow this to occur. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri’s obsession with ‘finality’ over truth, justice, and humanity, at any cost. Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power. Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.”
Afterward, Bell — who is presently running for Congress as a Democrat — took to social media with a statement of his own, writing, “Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline that decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”
“We must all question any system that would allow this to occur,” Williams’s attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said (AP)
Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking, said Williams’s execution called into question “the legitimacy of the entire legal process.” Rep. Cori Bush, Democrat of Missouri, called Williams’ execution a “depravity.” And the NAACP said Williams had been “lynched,” placing the blame directly at the feet of Missouri Gov. Michael Parson, a self-described “pro-life” Republican.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, Gayle’s former husband, Daniel, a radiologist who has since remarried, declined to comment. Marcellus Williams Jr. was unable to be reached.
The top concern Americans have about the death penalty, studies have shown, is the possibility of executing an innocent person, according to attorney Justin Brooks, a professor at University of San Diego School of Law and the founder of The California Innocence Project.
“Every time an innocent person is freed from death row, that concern is amplified,” Brooks told The Independent. “Now that 200 innocent people have been freed from death row, we can longer pretend that innocent people are not sentenced to death, nor that it has only happened a few times.”
Williams was set to be executed in January 2015 but was granted a last-minute reprieve by then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, for more DNA testing to be performed. In August 2017, he was hours away from being put to death when Greitens ordered the execution stayed after new testing techniques unavailable at the time of Gayle’s killing determined that DNA on the handle of the murder weapon could not have come from Williams. His execution on Tuesday generated global outrage largely because Parson cravenly pushed for Williams to die in the face of serious concerns about his guilt, Brooks went on.
“And of course, it is devastating to those of us in the innocence community because this time, no one was able to save him,” he said.
Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated two decades ago after spending years on death row, speaks at a rally to support Williams (AP)
Williams’ execution had one of his fiercest supporters, an exoneree who himself spent nearly two decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, wrestling on Wednesday with what he described as feelings of “profound, deep pain.”
At the age of 19, Obie Anthony was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole for a crime he didn’t commit. In 2011, after 17 years behind bars — which followed some 18 months in the LA County lockup — Anthony was exonerated thanks to new evidence uncovered by a team of Innocence Project lawyers. He later founded Exonerated Nation, a nonprofit that helps other exonerees find their footing upon release.
Today, Anthony, a Missouri native, splits his time between California and the St. Louis area, where he emerged in recent years as a firm believer in Williams’ innocence.
By executing Williams, “first and foremost, our presumption of innocence has been removed from the court,” Anthony told The Independent.
“Even with evidence of [Williams’] innocence, that didn’t even matter,” he said, voice shifting from outrage to deep sorrow and back again. “... Justice has been cuffed and put behind the bench. Reasonable doubt no longer matters.”
Putting Williams to death, Anthony went on, constituted “a perversion,” and, “a tragedy in all forms.” The justice system, in Williams’ case, contorted itself into “an injustice system,” according to Anthony.
“We know this is not justice,” he said. “The family members said this is not justice. The prosecutor said this is not justice. Over a million people [who signed a petition against Williams’ execution] said this is not justice… How can people stand for this?”
Justin Rohrlich
Wed 25 September 2024
Deacon Dave Billips, with the Office of Peace and Justice with the St. Louis Archdiocese, holds a sign as he stands with protesters holding space to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24 (AP)
When the state of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death on Tuesday night, it did so over the strenuous objections of the same prosecutor’s office that tried him for the 1998 murder of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, along with Williams’ legal team, had moved, unsuccessfully, to have the 55-year-old’s conviction vacated based on new information they said raised questions about his identification as Gayle’s killer. At 6:01 p.m. local time, Williams was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital while his son, an up-and-coming prizefighter named Marcellus Jr., watched from the witness gallery. Nine minutes later, Williams was pronounced dead.
“There was reasonable doubt,” Obie Alexander, a staunch Williams supporter who spent nearly two decades in prison on a wrongful murder conviction, told The Independent. “How can you execute a man when there is reasonable doubt?”
No one was there from Gayle’s family, who continued to believe in Williams’s guilt up until the very end but had been pushing for his sentence to be commuted to life without parole.
In a statement issued shortly before Williams was executed, his attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said, “We must all question any system that would allow this to occur. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri’s obsession with ‘finality’ over truth, justice, and humanity, at any cost. Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power. Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.”
Afterward, Bell — who is presently running for Congress as a Democrat — took to social media with a statement of his own, writing, “Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline that decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”
“We must all question any system that would allow this to occur,” Williams’s attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said (AP)
Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking, said Williams’s execution called into question “the legitimacy of the entire legal process.” Rep. Cori Bush, Democrat of Missouri, called Williams’ execution a “depravity.” And the NAACP said Williams had been “lynched,” placing the blame directly at the feet of Missouri Gov. Michael Parson, a self-described “pro-life” Republican.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, Gayle’s former husband, Daniel, a radiologist who has since remarried, declined to comment. Marcellus Williams Jr. was unable to be reached.
The top concern Americans have about the death penalty, studies have shown, is the possibility of executing an innocent person, according to attorney Justin Brooks, a professor at University of San Diego School of Law and the founder of The California Innocence Project.
“Every time an innocent person is freed from death row, that concern is amplified,” Brooks told The Independent. “Now that 200 innocent people have been freed from death row, we can longer pretend that innocent people are not sentenced to death, nor that it has only happened a few times.”
Williams was set to be executed in January 2015 but was granted a last-minute reprieve by then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, for more DNA testing to be performed. In August 2017, he was hours away from being put to death when Greitens ordered the execution stayed after new testing techniques unavailable at the time of Gayle’s killing determined that DNA on the handle of the murder weapon could not have come from Williams. His execution on Tuesday generated global outrage largely because Parson cravenly pushed for Williams to die in the face of serious concerns about his guilt, Brooks went on.
“And of course, it is devastating to those of us in the innocence community because this time, no one was able to save him,” he said.
Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated two decades ago after spending years on death row, speaks at a rally to support Williams (AP)
Williams’ execution had one of his fiercest supporters, an exoneree who himself spent nearly two decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, wrestling on Wednesday with what he described as feelings of “profound, deep pain.”
At the age of 19, Obie Anthony was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole for a crime he didn’t commit. In 2011, after 17 years behind bars — which followed some 18 months in the LA County lockup — Anthony was exonerated thanks to new evidence uncovered by a team of Innocence Project lawyers. He later founded Exonerated Nation, a nonprofit that helps other exonerees find their footing upon release.
Today, Anthony, a Missouri native, splits his time between California and the St. Louis area, where he emerged in recent years as a firm believer in Williams’ innocence.
By executing Williams, “first and foremost, our presumption of innocence has been removed from the court,” Anthony told The Independent.
“Even with evidence of [Williams’] innocence, that didn’t even matter,” he said, voice shifting from outrage to deep sorrow and back again. “... Justice has been cuffed and put behind the bench. Reasonable doubt no longer matters.”
Putting Williams to death, Anthony went on, constituted “a perversion,” and, “a tragedy in all forms.” The justice system, in Williams’ case, contorted itself into “an injustice system,” according to Anthony.
“We know this is not justice,” he said. “The family members said this is not justice. The prosecutor said this is not justice. Over a million people [who signed a petition against Williams’ execution] said this is not justice… How can people stand for this?”
Evidences of innocence and guilt of Marcellus Williams struck a debate on whether the sentence should have been converted to a life in prison, which was supported by victim's family.
Williams' execution Tuesday has left others to debate whether it should have occurred. / Photo: AFP via Missouri Department of Corrections
With the end of his life approaching, Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams was offered an opportunity to make a final statement to the world.
His words were few — neither proclaiming innocence nor admitting guilt in the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was stabbed 43 times during a burglary of her suburban St. Louis home. Williams instead seemed to express peace with his fate, writing simply: "All Praise Be To Allah In Every Situation!!!"
Williams' execution Tuesday has left others to debate whether it should have occurred.
Missouri's governor, attorney general and top court remain convinced of his guilt. Those who advocated for him continued to insist he was innocent. The St. Louis County prosecutor, citing lingering questions, believes Williams' sentence should have been converted to life in prison. Gayle's family, though not publicly outspoken, also joined in a request to let Williams live.
What evidence points to Williams' guilt?
When Gayle was killed, items stolen from her home were later sold by Williams or found in his possession. A former girlfriend and an inmate who shared a cell with Williams also testified at his trial that he confessed to killing Gayle.
The ex-girlfriend told police that when Williams picked her up on the day of the Gayle's death, she noticed he was wearing a jacket even though it was hot outside, and that there was blood on his shirt, scratches on his neck and a laptop in his car.
She told police that when she looked in the car's trunk the next day, she found a purse that contained Gayle's identification.
When police searched Williams' car more than a year after Gayle's death, they found a St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruler and calculator that had belonged to Gayle. Police also recovered a laptop stolen from Gayle's home from a man who had bought it from Williams.
Williams' attorneys argued that the ex-girlfriend and cellmate were convicted felons who wanted part of a $10,000 reward.
Williams' former cellmate was paid a $5,000 reward. The ex-girlfriend never requested the reward, the governor's office said.
What evidence is cited for Williams' innocence?
Authorities did not find physical evidence at the crime scene linking Williams to Gayle's death.
Williams' attorneys noted that a bloody shoeprint, fingerprints and hair found at the scene did not match Williams. But a prosecutor said such tests were merely inconclusive.
The knife used in the killing also was left at the scene. A crime scene investigator testified at Williams' 2001 trial that the killer had worn gloves. But questions swirled for years about DNA testing of the knife.
The state Supreme Court cancelled Williams' scheduled execution in 2015, allowing time for further DNA testing. Just hours before Williams was again scheduled to be executed in 2017, then-governor Eric Greitens also cancelled the lethal injection amid DNA questions. Greitens appointed a board of retired judges to investigate the case. But the panel never reached a conclusion before Governor Mike Parson dissolved it in 2023.
In August, new testing revealed that DNA on the knife matched that of prosecution team members who had handled it without wearing gloves.
Without evidence pointing to anyone else, Williams' attorneys quit pursuing an innocence claim in court and refocused their arguments on alleged procedural errors, including that prosecutors had mishandled evidence and wrongly excluded a Black man from the jury based partly on race.
Why not let Williams spend life in prison?
At the time of Williams' murder trial, he already had an extensive list of burglary, robbery, theft and assault convictions in other cases. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder for Gayle's death, which in Missouri can be punishable either by death or life in prison without parole. It took jurors just 90 minutes to decide that he deserved the death penalty.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, a Democrat who took office in 2019 and is running for Congress, cited a relatively recent Missouri law to reopen the question of Williams' guilt or innocence.
Bell struck an agreement in August with the Midwest Innocence Project, which was representing Williams, that would have let Williams enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole. But Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected, and courts kept in place the death sentence.
Ultimately, the execution decision rested with Parson, who could have used gubernatorial powers to convert Williams' sentence to life imprisonment.
A clemency request submitted on Williams' behalf pleaded for mercy, noting that Gayle's family also supported life imprisonment instead of death. But Parson disagreed, explaining in his own final statement on the case: "No juror nor judge has ever found Williams' innocence claim to be credible."
SOURCE: AP
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