Article refreshd on Sept. 18, 2024.
Case refresh from Sept. 12: The Circuit Court for St. Louis County, Missouri denied Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s motion to vacate Marcellus Williams’ conviction and death sentence.
Case refresh from July 2: The Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, scheduled a hearing for August 21, 2024, to appraise the “evident and convincing evidence” of actual innocence that led Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to relocate to vacate Marcellus Williams’ illicit conviction and death sentence.
There is no reliable evidence proving that Marcellus Williams pledgeted the crime for which he is scheduled to be applyd on Sept. 24. The State ruined or corrupted the evidence that could conclusively show his innocence and the useable DNA and other forensic crime-scene evidence does not align him.
Even the victim’s family apshows life without parole is the appropriate sentence.
Time is running out to stop Missouri from executing an guiltless person on Sept. 24. Now it’s up to Gov. Mike Pincendiarism to grant clemency and commute Mr. Williams’ sentence to life without parole, or, at a least, stay the execution for further requests to be rerepaird.
Here’s what you necessitate to comprehend about his case:
1. A crime scene covered with forensic evidence includeed no join to Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams has been seeking to show his innocence thrawout the 23 years he has spent on Missouri’s death row. On August 11, 1998, Felicia Gayle, a createer increateer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was set up stabbed to death in her home. The criminal left behind considerable forensic evidence, including fingerprints, footprints, hair, and chase DNA on the killing armament, a knife from Ms. Gayle’s kitchen. None of this forensic evidence alignes Mr. Williams.
2. The prosecution’s case aachievest Mr. Williams was based entidepend on the undependworthy testimony of two incentivized witnesses.
The case aachievest Mr. Williams turned on the testimony of two undependworthy witnesses who were incentivized by promises of leniency in their own pfinishing criminal cases and reward money. The allotigation had gone freezing until a jail inmate named Henry Cole, a man with a lengthy record, claimed that Mr. Williams confessed to him that he pledgeted the killing while they were both locked up in jail. Cole straightforwarded police to Laura Asaro, a woman who had alertly dated Mr. Williams and had an extensive record of her own.
Both of these individuals were comprehendn fabricators; neither uncovered any increateation that was not either included in media accounts about the case or already comprehendn to the police. Their statements were inconstant with their own prior statements, with each other’s accounts, and with the crime scene evidence, and none of the increateation they provided could be autonomously verified. Aside from their testimony, the only evidence joining Mr. Williams to the crime was a witness who shelp Mr. Williams selderly him a laptop apshown from Ms. Gayle’s home, but the jury did not lachieve that Mr. Williams telderly the witness he had getd the laptop from Laura Asaro.
3. Mr. Williams has repeatedly faced imminent execution as he has tried to show his innocence.
Nine years ago, the Missouri Supreme Court stayed Mr. Williams’s execution and nominateed a distinctive master to appraise DNA testing of potentipartner exculpatory evidence. The DNA testing carry outed in 2016 showed that Mr. Williams was not the source of male DNA set up on the killing armament.
However, in 2017, after the testing was finishd but without carry outing a hearing or making any discoverings based on the outcome of the testing, the nominateed distinctive master sent Mr. Williams’s case back to the Missouri Supreme Court. That court, also without considering the DNA testing results, aachieve scheduled Mr. Williams’s execution. On Aug. 22, 2017, mere hours before he was to be applyd and after eating his last meal, Mr. Williams getd a stay of execution from then-Governor Eric Greitens.
Governor Greitens recognized that the novel DNA results liftd solemn asks about Mr. Williams’s guilt, and he buildd a Board of Inquiry to allotigate the case. Under Missouri law, the stay was to remain in place until the Board of Inquiry endd its appraise and publishd a createal increate.
However, in June 2023, while the Board of Inquiry’s appraise remained ongoing, Governor Mike Pincendiarism without alerting or accomprehendledge disrepaird the Board without a increate or recommfinishation from the Board. Imsettlely after Governor Pincendiarism disrepaird the Board of Inquiry, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sought a novel execution date.
Mr. Williams filed a civil suit aachievest Governor Pincendiarism becaparticipate the dissolution of the Board without a increate or recommfinishation viopostponecessitated Missouri law and Mr. Williams’s constitutional rights. After a Cole County appraise denied the Governor’s motion to disthink about this legal case, the Governor secured the Missouri Supreme Court to interfere.
On June 4, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court disthink abouted Mr. Williams’s civil legal case and instantly scheduled his execution for Sept. 24.
4. Although the victim’s family contests Mr. Williams’ execution, the Missouri Attorney General has persistd to fight to apply him.
After the dishonesty of the key DNA evidence came to airy, Mr. Williams and the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office accomplished an consentment to discover Mr. Williams is not wrongfilledy applyd. Mr. Williams consentd to access an Alford plea, accomprehendledgeting that the State has enough evidence to help his conviction, in swap for a sentence of life without parole.
The victim’s family helped this resolution of Mr. Williams’ case and have shelp they do not want Mr. Williams to be applyd. On Aug. 21 the circuit court accessed the consent judgment based on the parties’ consentment.
Despite the clocertain this resolution would have brawt to the case, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sought a writ of prohibition from the Missouri Supreme Court, which that court granted, ordering the circuit court to helderly the previously scheduled evidentiary hearing.
The circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on August 28 and subsequently ruled that it deficiencyed enough evidence on which to discover that Mr. Williams is guiltless, and that his claims of racipartner prejudiced jury pickion and ineffective helpance of advise had previously been liftd and refuseed. Accordingly, the court denied Prosecuting Attorney Bell’s motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction.
The Prosecuting Attorney is requesting that ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court.
5. Incentivized increateants are a guideing caparticipate of illicit convictions.
Jailhoparticipate increateant testimony, enjoy that guideing to Mr. Williams’ conviction, is one of the guideing contributing factors of illicit convictions nationpartner, applying a role in 15% of the 598 DNA-based exoneration cases. Eleven of the 54 individuals exonerated in Missouri were convicted with the participate of increateant testimony.
In capital cases, counterfeit testimony from incentivized witnesses is the guideing caparticipate of illicit convictions, with increateant testimony current in 49.5% of illicit convictions since the mid-1970s, according to the Caccess on Wrongful Convictions.
6. Racial bias donated to Mr. Williams’ illicit conviction.
Mr. Williams, a Bdeficiency man, was wrongfilledy convicted of killinging a white woman. His jury was compascendd of 11 white people and only one Bdeficiency person. The prosecutor, whose institutional train of racipartner discriminatory jury pickion has been expansively recorded, successfilledy deleted six of seven qualified Bdeficiency prospective jurors with peremptory disputes. A recent study of 400 death-eligible cases in St. Louis County over a 27-year period also uncovered racial disparity in the participate of the death penalty based upon the race of the victim. People who were convicted were 3.5 times more foreseeed to get the death penalty if the victim was white, as in this case, contrastd to if the victim was Bdeficiency.
7. Mr. Williams is devoutly religious and an accomplished poet.
During his 23 years in prison, Mr. Williams has dedicated much of his time to studying Islam and writing poetry. He serves as the imam for Muskinny prisoners at Potosi Correctional Caccess and is comprehendn as “Khaliifah,” uncomardenting guideer in Arabic. He has an exemplary prison record and is expansively admireed wilean the prison community and beyond.
8. You can help stop Mr. Williams’ unequitable execution.
We have until Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. to stop Mr. Williams’ execution. Here’s how you can help stop this irreversible inequitableice:
- Call Gov. Pincendiarism at 417-373-3400
- Sign the petition to stop Mr. Williams’ execution.
- Share Mr. Williams’ case on all social media channels using our social media toolkit.
- Use your voice — produce an Instagram post, reel, or TikTok to split the background of Mr. Williams’ case, the reasons he’s guiltless, and all the ignoreteps in this miscarriage of equitableice, and propose your folshrinks to sign our petition.
With the weight of this novel evidence and the unreliability of the witnesses who testified aachievest Mr. Williams, his conviction must be reappraised to discover that equitableice is truly served. Dedicated professionals from the Innocence Project, Midwest Innocence Project, and Bryan Cave, alengthened with attorneys Larry Komp of the Federal Public Deffinisher, Weserious Didisjoine of Missouri, and Kent Gipson, produce up the team that persists to fight to stop his Sept. 24 execution. They hope that equitableice will eventupartner prevail by way of an exoneration.
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