Man executed after 20 years on death row despite prosecution thinking he was innocent
A death row inmate was executed yesterday (24 September), despite a prosecutor in the case and the victim's family believing that he should live.
Marcellus Williams was convicted of the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a journalist for the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
The American was put on death row as a result, and two decades later, was executed via the lethal injection, as his Imam and his son, Marcellus Williams Jr, were with him in the execution room.
After eating his final meal at 10.53am, which included chicken wings and tater tots, he was taken to be executed, with his final words being: "All praise be to Allah in every situation!!!"
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Having been held behind bars in Missouri for two decades, Williams became the third execution in the state this year, and the 15th in the US.
Following Williams' death, his attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement: “Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power.
“Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.”
Missouri Governor Mike Parson received over a million petitions requesting a stay of execution, according to the WEproject, who campaigned against Williams' death.
British billionaire Richard Branson even weighed in on the situation, writing on Twitter: "Marcellus Williams was killed today by the state of Missouri for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s a shameful day for Missouri, and a shameful day for Governor Mike Parson, who failed in his duty to protect an innocent man from injustice."
Despite backlash from the public, Parson and the state Supreme Court refused to intervene, despite the petition revealing that even the victim's relatives wanted the sentence changed to life without parole.
Williams' attorneys filed two last-ditch attempts with the US Supreme Court this Monday (23 September), though both were denied.
Three justices dissented from the second request in particular, as alleged new DNA evidence and claims from the prosecutor's office suggested that he may have been innocent.
His attorneys stated that DNA evidence on the knife used in the murder was linked to an unknown male that did not match Williams, though the court rejected a hearing about this on Saturday (21 September)
St Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton said: “There is no basis for a court to find that Williams is innocent, and no court has made such a finding.
“Williams is guilty of first-degree murder, and has been sentenced to death.”
Despite a trial judge approving the prosecutor's office notion to vacate his conviction, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey contested the decision, with the same trial judge then reversing his initial decision.
Williams was described as a 'caring and loving father' in the trial, and was given a stay of execution by former Missouri Governor Eric Greiten in 2017, as a board of inquiry was appointed to look into the case.
Governor Parson then dissolved the board and lifted the stay when he was elected last year.
The murder of Gayle was described during the trial by the prosecutors, who said that he broke into her home, heard the shower running and used a large butcher knife to stab her 43 times when she came downstairs, before stealing her laptop and purse, according to officials.
Williams' execution was the Missouri Department of Corrections' third attempt to put the convict to the death, as the state Supreme Court called off his initial execution in 2015 for further DNA testing.
Joshua Nair