Marcellus Williams has spent over two decades on Missouri’s death row, maintaining his innocence for a murder he claims he did not commit. Now, at 55, Williams is facing execution on Tuesday, following multiple delays, despite lingering questions about DNA evidence and concerns regarding fairness in his 2001 trial.
Williams’s execution has been halted twice before, most recently in 2017, due to growing support for his case from groups like the Midwest Innocence Project, a sitting member of Congress, and even the victim’s family. Even the local prosecutor’s office that originally secured his conviction has expressed doubts.
Why is Marcellus Williams on death row?
On August 11, 1998, Felicia “Licia” Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was found stabbed to death in her home in a St. Louis suburb. Though investigators collected forensic evidence, including fingerprints, hair, and DNA from a kitchen knife, no arrests were made for over a year.
Williams was eventually convicted of the murder, even though his DNA did not match the forensic evidence at the scene. His attorneys have argued that his conviction rested on the testimony of two unreliable witnesses, both of whom had incentives to accuse Williams in exchange for reduced sentences in their own criminal cases.
The Midwest Innocence Project, which has taken up Williams’s case, highlights that jailhouse informant testimony was used in 23 percent of death row exoneration cases, underscoring the potential problems with Williams’s conviction.
Recent developments in Williams’s case
Williams was first spared from execution in 2015 by the Missouri Supreme Court, and again in 2017 when then-Governor Eric Greitens granted him a reprieve. At that time, new DNA evidence had surfaced that seemed to exonerate Williams. Greitens appointed a board of inquiry to investigate the claims further, but in 2023, Governor Mike Parson dissolved the board before it could issue a final report. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey then set Williams’s execution for 2024.
Governor Parson defended his decision to move forward with the execution, stating that continuing to delay it would “leave a victim’s family in limbo.”
In August 2023, Williams sued Parson for dissolving the inquiry board prematurely, but the Missouri Supreme Court dismissed his case, clearing the path for the execution.
Meanwhile, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell became aware of DNA evidence that he believes could exonerate Williams. However, just hours before an evidentiary hearing, Bell and Williams’s defense team learned that the DNA, which had excluded Williams, belonged to a former prosecutor and an investigator who had mishandled the murder weapon years earlier by handling it without gloves.
Bell attempted to resolve the case by offering Williams an “Alford plea,” a deal that would have allowed him to plead guilty without admitting guilt in exchange for life in prison. However, the state Supreme Court and Attorney General Bailey blocked the agreement.
In early September, Williams’s attorneys argued that the contamination of evidence “destroyed [Williams’s] last and best chance” to prove his innocence, but the circuit court judge declined to vacate his conviction or death sentence. Additionally, Williams’s clemency request was rejected by Governor Parson, and the state Supreme Court turned down his request for a stay of execution on the grounds of racial bias in jury selection.
What’s next for Marcellus Williams?
Williams is set to be executed Tuesday evening at the Potosi Correctional Center, 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. On Monday, Williams filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for a stay of execution due to alleged racial bias during the jury selection process.