Missouri Man Faces Execution Despite Prosecutor’s Opposition

By Joseph Ax

A Missouri man is set to be executed on Tuesday, despite the prosecutor’s office that secured his murder conviction two decades ago raising doubts about the case’s integrity.

The U.S. Supreme Court, the final authority that could have intervened, chose not to take action on Tuesday. Marcellus Williams, 55, is slated to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. local time at a prison in Bonne Terre. His final attempts to avoid execution were also rejected by Missouri Governor Mike Parson and the state’s highest court.

Williams was convicted in 2003 for the murder of Felicia “Lisha” Gayle, a former newspaper reporter who was stabbed in her home. He has consistently maintained his innocence.

Wesley Bell, the prosecuting attorney in St. Louis County whose office managed the original case, has publicly opposed the execution, citing concerns regarding the validity of the trial. “Even for those who disagree on the death penalty, when there is a shadow of a doubt about a defendant’s guilt, the irreversible punishment of execution should not be an option,” Bell stated.

In legal documents, Bell questioned the reliability of the key witnesses from the trial, asserted that prosecutors improperly excluded Black jurors based on race, and highlighted new forensic testing that found no DNA belonging to Williams on the murder weapon. Further investigations revealed that DNA found on the knife belonged to a prosecutor and an investigator involved in the case, both of whom handled the weapon without gloves.

The knife’s contamination led to an agreement in August for Williams to enter a no-contest plea and serve a life sentence. However, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey opposed this arrangement, prompting the state Supreme Court to block the deal at his request. A state judge later upheld the conviction, stating that the absence of evidence on the knife did not prove Williams’ innocence. The Missouri Supreme Court confirmed this ruling on Monday.

Governor Parson also denied Williams’ clemency request on Monday. “No jury nor court at any level has found merit in Mr. Williams’ claims of innocence,” he remarked. “Ultimately, his conviction and death sentence were upheld.”

Williams’ attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell of the Midwest Innocence Project, emphasized that Gayle’s family is against his execution. “Missouri is on the brink of executing an innocent man, which raises serious questions about the integrity of the entire criminal justice system,” she stated.