(NewsInsights.org) – Authorities in Missouri have set a date for the execution of a death row inmate convicted of first-degree murder in 2003. Marcellus Williams, 55, stands accused of stabbing Felicia Gayle 43 times during a burglary gone wrong at her home in St. Louis in 1998.
Williams, who maintains his innocence, was originally scheduled for execution in 2015. A Missouri Supreme Court judge stayed the procedure temporarily to give his defense team time to request new DNA testing on the weapon.
Although the execution was rescheduled for August 2017, the DNA evidence tying Williams to Gayle’s murder came into question in 2016. Results from advanced testing technologies, which were not available in 1998, proved he did not match the male DNA found on the knife.
Williams and his defense team presented these findings to the Missouri Supreme Court in an appeal. Before Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who oversees cases from Missouri, could respond, Governor Eric Greitens (R-MO) stepped in.
With only a few short hours to go before Williams’ scheduled execution, Grietens signed another stay. He also appointed a board to review the case, including any new DNA evidence, and said in a statement that it was important for the people of Missouri to “have confidence in the judgment of guilt” before handing down the death penalty.
In 2018, Greitens suddenly faced a series of personal scandals, including charges of felony invasion of privacy and lying to the state ethics commission. While the charges were ultimately dropped, he suddenly resigned in late 2018.
The review board kept working on the case and delivered at least some findings, which remain sealed, to the newly-appointed Governor Michael Parson (R-MO) in 2023. But in June 2023, Parson suddenly dissolved the panel and lifted Grietens’ stay, noting that it was time to “move forward” with Williams’ lethal injection.
The Midwest Innocence Project filed a civil lawsuit against Missouri’s 19th Circuit Court, arguing that Parson violated both the law and Williams’ rights by dissolving the board and lifting the stay of execution without releasing any findings. Then, in January, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate based on the new DNA evidence.
A date for that hearing has yet to be set. Yet, Williams is scheduled to be executed on September 24 anyway, meaning that he could face lethal injection before that day arrives.
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