Last-ditch Efforts Seek to Halt Looming Execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri

September 18, 2024 / 9:53 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Two new court filings are again aiming to halt the impending execution of Marcellus Williams, a condemned inmate in Missouri who has maintained his innocence throughout his decades on death row. Williams' case has drawn support from advocates and some legislators over the years as key evidence used to convict him of murder has been called into question. 

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office will appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court a judge's ruling upholding the conviction and death sentence for Marcellus Williams, whose execution is one week away.

A notice of appeal filed Monday night did not include any details about the basis for the appeal.

Meanwhile, a clemency petition to Gov. Mike Parson emphasizes how relatives of the murder victim oppose the execution of Williams. And attorneys for Williams on Tuesday asked a federal court to reconsider a previous denial of an appeal alleging that Black prospective jurors were not selected for Williams' 2001 criminal trial because of their race.

Williams, 55, is set to die by lethal injection next Tuesday. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2003 for the killing of Felicia Gayle at her home in University City, a suburb of St. Louis, five years earlier. Gayle was a social worker and former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was 42 when she died.

During his trial, prosecutors alleged Williams burglarized Gayle's residence and stabbed her to death, before leaving the home with a jacket used to hide his blood-stained shirt as well as her purse and her husband's laptop, according to court filings. Williams's girlfriend testified saying she'd discovered the stained shirt and Gayle's belongings in the trunk of the car he'd driven to pick her up the day of the murder. She also said Williams confessed to killing Gayle when she confronted him about it, the filings show. 

They also alleged Williams confessed during a conversation with a cellmate, Henry Cole, while jailed on unrelated charges in St. Louis. But Williams' attorneys said both the girlfriend and Cole were convicted felons seeking a $10,000 reward for their testimonies. They have also argued that the jury responsible for convicting Williams, who is Black, was stacked against him as it included only one Black juror.

Years later, a review of the evidence used in Williams' criminal trial led former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to seek a new hearing to consider vacating the murder conviction. Bell said forensic testing on the murder weapon indicated that someone else's DNA was on the butcher knife used to kill Gayle. Bell brought a challenge before the judge under a 2021 Missouri law that allows prosecutors to review a conviction they believe is unjust. 

The Missouri Supreme Court in June set Williams' execution date for Sept. 24 despite the prosecutor's efforts, and, days before an Aug. 21 hearing, new testing showed that the DNA evidence was spoiled because members of the prosecutor's office touched the knife without gloves before the original trial in 2001.

With the DNA evidence unavailable, Midwest Innocence Project attorneys working on behalf of Williams reached a compromise with the prosecutor's office: Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole.

Judge Bruce Hilton signed off on the agreement, as did Gayle's family. But at Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey's urging, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the agreement and ordered Hilton to proceed with an evidentiary hearing.

Hilton ruled on Sept. 12 that the first-degree murder conviction and death sentence would stand.

"Every claim of error Williams has asserted on direct appeal, post-conviction review, and habeas review has been rejected by Missouri's courts," Hilton wrote. "There is no basis for a court to find that Williams is innocent, and no court has made such a finding."

The Midwest Innocence Project provided The Associated Press with a copy of the clemency petition that asks Parson to spare Williams' life. Parson, a Republican and a former county sheriff, has been in office for 11 executions, and he has never granted clemency.

The petition focuses heavily on how Gayle's relatives want the sentence commuted to life without parole.

"The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live," the petition states. "Marcellus' execution is not necessary."

A spokesman for Parson said in an email Tuesday that attorneys for the governor's office have met with Williams' legal team, and Parson will announce a decision later, typically at least a day before the scheduled execution.

At the August hearing, Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane said that DNA evidence aside, other evidence pointed to his guilt.

"They refer to the evidence in this case as being weak. It was overwhelming," Spillane said.

Also at the hearing, the man who prosecuted Williams, Keith Larner, was asked why the trial jury included just one Black juror. Larner said he struck just three potential Black jurors, including one who he said looked like Williams.

Hayley Bedard, a spokesperson for the Death Penalty Information Center, said there have been no verified instance of an innocent person being executed in the U.S. since capital punishment was reintroduced in 1972, but there have been nearly two dozen people executed "despite strong and credible claims of innocence."

Williams has been close to execution before. In August 2017, just hours before his scheduled death, then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, granted a stay after reviewing the same DNA evidence that spurred Bell's effort to vacate the conviction.

A change.org petition signed by 525,000 people calls for a halt to the execution.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Missouri has carried out 96 state executions and three federal executions since 1976, and five clemencies have been granted in the state.