Marcellus Williams Still Awaits Execution Despite Controversy, Legal Appeals Trail On
Supporters and activists making a last-ditch appeal for clemency to spare the life of Marcellus Williams, who is scheduled for execution during a narrow window overnight on Tuesday. Williams, 55, has maintained his innocence and his case is one of five highlighted by ongoing concerns about DNA testing and racial bias in Virginia.
Protest and March to the US Supreme Court
A team of supporters is rallying against the execution at 10 a.m. Tuesday outdoors the U.S. Supreme Court. In Washington, D.C., they’ll march from Lafayette Square to the Supreme Court building in support of Williams’ clemency while calling for justice. The rally is being planned as Williams is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Tuesday by injection for the fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle, a former journalist and state worker, who surprised him during a burglary she discovered at her home in suburban St. Louis.
Legal Battles and Rejections
Despite that early promise, Williams took several hits in her case on Monday. The Missouri Supreme Court and Governor Mike Parson also declined to stay the execution. Missouri Governor Parson denied a request for clemencyseeking further exploration of allegations that prosecutors dismissed a Black juror from Williams’ trial on the basis of race. Parson said Williams had years to make the case — and “there’s nothing there that would lead one to believe he’s not guilty.”
Racial Bias and DNA Evidence
One of the major arguments put forth by Williams’ defense lawyers is the contention that racial bias infected jury selection. They say the prosecutor struck a Black juror because he looked like Williams. But despite those issues, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that previous legal proceedings had not presented any constitutional errors in its original conclusion to condemn him to death.
Aside from racial bias concerns, the reliability of DNA evidence used in Williams’ conviction has been called into question. The DNA on the weapon used in the murder — a butcher knife — only matched people from the prosecutor’s office who handled it without gloves, after initial testing from crime labs had been done. Nevertheless, no DNA testing has brought to light other potential suspects.
Midwest Innocence Project + Clemency Appeals
The Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing wrongly incarcerated individuals, took up Williams’ case. Lawyers with the nonprofit have made the case that Williams is innocent and that he is about to be executed for a crime he did not commit. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has also expressed concerns with Williams’ guilt and requested a stay of execution. But his appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court was rejected.
Bell and other supporters are still seeking clemency, said Bell, who noted that serious questions about Williams’ conviction remain. Then-Governor Eric Greitens granted a temporary stay of execution in 2017 to give a panel of retired judges time to consider the case. However the board never came to a decision, and clemency proceedings have stalled ever since.
Williams’ Prior Execution Dates
Williams previously was at the brink of execution. The Missouri Supreme Court stayed his execution a few days before the 2015 scheduled date. In 2017, less than two years later, Williams was hours from being executed when Governor Greitens gave a stay. However, while slowed down by these delays, Williams finds himself backed into a corner such that perhaps Monday could be the last hours in which US law will allow him to fight.
Read more A BROADER PERSPECTIVE: RACE & JUSTICE IN MISSOURI?
The case of Marcellus Williams points to wider problems within the state’s criminal justice system at large, says Coleman, particularly in how Missouri handles cases where the defendants are Black and have limited resources. Missouri has been called out for racist policies and overreach of punishment by critics who said that those actions hurt LGBT people, women of color, and other marginalized populations. Michelle Smith, a co-Founder of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, says Missouri’s criminal-justice system is built far more on retribution than fairness.
Smith and others say it is delivered unequally in Missouri, driven more by a desire for retribution than true justice. In the run-up to Williams’ execution, activists are once again protesting what they see as a fundamentally broken system that operates in harsh and severely unfair ways with concepts of mercy or justice.
The last word: United States Supreme Court
Hours from his scheduled execution Wednesday night, the U.S. Supreme Court is Williams’ remaining hope. His lawyers have taken an emergency appeal to the court of final resort in our country, seeking its intervention. But that clock is ticking, and without a ruling in their favor by tomorrow, Missouri will have executed its 100th prisoner since the state resumed executions in 1989.
In full view of the world, the Marcellus Williams case has put on display just what an imperfect solution the death penalty can be when it comes to preserving justice in cases where guilt is uncertain. The furor over Williams’ conviction probably will not abate whether or not the U.S. Supreme Court grants a stay.