The Missouri Supreme Court docket and the state’s GOP Gov. Mike Parson every refused requests on Monday from an inmate making an attempt to keep away from his scheduled execution.
Marcellus Williams, 55, is ready to be executed by deadly injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. in reference to the homicide of Lisha Gayle, a social employee and former newspaper reporter who was stabbed greater than 40 instances throughout a housebreaking at her residence in St. Louis in 1998, in line with The Related Press. Williams has maintained his innocence.
Parson rejected Williams’ clemency request to spare his life and as an alternative sentence him to life in jail. The state Supreme Court docket additionally rejected a request for the execution to be halted to permit a decrease court docket to make a brand new willpower about whether or not a trial prosecutor wrongly excluded a possible black juror because of racial bias.
His legal professional argued earlier than the state Supreme Court docket about alleged procedural errors in jury choice and the prosecution’s alleged mishandling of the homicide weapon. The court docket, in a unanimous resolution, affirmed a decrease court docket ruling rejecting Williams’ claims.
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Marcellus Williams, 55, is ready to be executed by deadly injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. (Missouri Division of Corrections by way of AP)
“Regardless of almost a quarter-century of litigation in each state and federal courts, there isn’t any credible proof of precise innocence or any displaying of a constitutional error undermining confidence within the authentic judgment,” Choose Zel Fischer wrote within the state ruling.
Williams’ attorneys have additionally made an attraction earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket, which remains to be pending.
Parson stated Williams’ attorneys obtained ample authorized alternatives to try to make their consumer’s case for his innocence. The governor additionally claimed Williams’ attorneys have been attempting to “muddy the waters about DNA proof” with allegations the courts have already rejected.
“Nothing from the true info of this case have led me to imagine in Mr. Williams’ innocence,” Parson stated in a press release. “As such, Mr. Williams’ punishment might be carried out as ordered by the Supreme Court docket.”
The governor has by no means granted clemency in a demise penalty case.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Lawyer Wesley Bell has seemed to put aside Williams’ sentence, pointing to questions on whether or not he’s responsible. Bell plans to attraction the Missouri Supreme Court docket ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court docket, his spokesman advised The Related Press.
“Even for many who disagree on the demise penalty, when there’s a shadow of a doubt of any defendant’s guilt, the irreversible punishment of execution shouldn’t be an possibility,” Bell stated in a press release.
Midwest Innocence Venture legal professional Tricia Bushnell stated “Missouri is poised to execute an harmless man, an consequence that calls into query the legitimacy of all the felony justice system.”
Throughout Williams’ authentic trial, prosecutors claimed he broke into Gayle’s residence on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water working within the bathe, discovered a big butcher knife and stabbed her 43 instances when she got here downstairs. Gayle’s purse and her husband’s laptop computer laptop have been stolen from the house.
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Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated 20 years in the past after spending years on demise row, speaks at a rally to help Missouri demise row inmates Marcellus Williams on Aug. 21, 2024, in Clayton, Missouri. (AP)
Williams was accused of stealing a jacket to hide blood on his shirt. Williams’ girlfriend requested him why he would put on a jacket on a scorching day, and she or he stated she later observed the purse and laptop computer in his automobile. Williams offered the pc a day or two later, his girlfriend stated.
Prosecutors additionally pointed to testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 whereas Williams was behind bars on unrelated fees. Cole stated Williams had confessed to the killing and provided particulars about it.
Williams’ execution could be the third Missouri has carried out up to now this 12 months and the one hundredth for the reason that state resumed executions in 1989.
This would be the third time Williams was nearing execution.
In January 2015, he was lower than every week away from execution when the state Supreme Court docket canceled it to permit time for his attorneys to pursue further DNA testing.
Williams was simply hours away from being executed in August 2017 when then-Republican Gov. Eric Greitens granted a keep and appointed a panel of retired judges to look at the case. The panel, nonetheless, by no means reached a conclusion within the case.
Issues about DNA proof additionally prompted Bell to name for a listening to difficult whether or not Williams was responsible. However days earlier than the Aug. 21 listening to, new testing revealed that DNA on the knife belonged to folks within the prosecutor’s workplace who dealt with it with out gloves following the unique exams.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson delivers the State of the State tackle on Jan. 18, 2023, in Jefferson Metropolis, Missouri. (AP Picture/Jeff Roberson)
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With out DNA proof implicating any different suspect, Midwest Innocence Venture attorneys reached a compromise with the prosecutor’s workplace wherein Williams would enter a brand new, no-contest plea to first-degree homicide in trade for lowering his sentence to life in jail with out parole.
Choose Bruce Hilton and Gayle’s household signed off on the deal however, on the request of Republican Missouri Lawyer Basic Andrew Bailey, the state Supreme Court docket blocked the settlement and ordered Hilton to maneuver ahead with an evidentiary listening to, which was held on Aug. 28.
The prosecutor within the 2001 homicide case argued on the listening to that the trial jury was honest, though it included only one black juror. The prosecutor stated he eliminated one potential black juror partially as a result of he seemed an excessive amount of like Williams, which Williams’ attorneys say confirmed improper racial bias.
Hilton dominated earlier this month that the first-degree homicide conviction and demise sentence would stand, highlighting that Williams’ arguments had all been beforehand rejected, a ruling that was upheld Monday by the state Supreme Court docket.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
