Marcellus Williams executed in Missouri, igniting fresh outcry over death penalty
This past week marked one of the darkest execution sprees in the U.S. in nearly 30 years, reigniting contentious debates about the death penalty. Five men in five different states – Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, Emmanuel Littlejohn, Travis Mullis, Freddie “Khalil” Owens, Alan Eugene Miller – were executed.
One execution in particular gained widespread media attention and criticism. The state of Missouri executed Williams by lethal injection last Tuesday. His death came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to delay the execution.
Williams has maintained his innocence since his 2001 conviction of the murder of journalist and social worker Felicia Gayle. She was killed by a gruesome stabbing with her own kitchen knife in 1998. His trial involved a shaky defense and a predominantly white jury, with zero physical evidence tying Williams to the crime.
Background of the case
His conviction was based largely on two key witnesses: a jailhouse informant and Williams’ girlfriend at the time. Both claimed that Williams confessed to the crime, despite the witnesses being “incentivized witnesses,” according to defense attorneys. The girlfriend told friends that she had been paid for her testimony, according to the Midwest Innocence Project, and was facing solicitation charges at the time. Additionally, the informant accepted $5,000 for his testimony. Both individuals have since died.
This is not the first time that questions have been raised about Williams’ innocence. His execution had been scheduled and stopped twice prior due to concerns about the case. In 2017, Eric Greitens, Missouri’s previous governor, granted a day-of-stay and also created a committee to look further into his case. However, Mike Parson, the current governor, dissolved the committee.
Wesley Bell, the current prosecutor where Williams was first convicted, filed a 63-page motion earlier this year to delay his execution. Bell also offered Williams a deal that would have changed his death sentence to a sentence to life without parole, but it was rejected by Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey.
The lack of physical evidence is the largest advocate of his innocence. Several items were collected at the scene of the crime, including the murder weapon, bloody shoe prints and fingerprints, and the victim’s hair. DNA testing was not available at the time that he was convicted. With new technology, none of the evidence can be tied to Williams, according to the Bell.
Not only is his DNA not present, but the evidence was grossly mishandled. According to the Associated Press, the prosecutor at the time admitted to touching the knife without gloves at least five times prior to trial.
“Subsequent tests determined the knife had been so mishandled in the aftermath of the killing that it would be impossible to identify the killer,” wrote the Associated Press.
The campaign in his defense
The victim’s family has also advocated against his execution, and sided with his defense. Despite all of this, the U.S. Supreme Court followed through with allowing Williams to be executed.
“Mr. Williams has exhausted due process and every judicial avenue, including over 15 hearings attempting to argue his innocence and overturn his conviction. No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims,” said Gov. Parson in a statement about the ruling.
The Supreme Court very rarely grants last-minute clemency for death row inmates. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the court has only gotten involved twice in the past two years to stop executions out of more than two dozen emergency appeals.
DNA evidence has been integral in overturning several wrongful convictions. According to the
Death Penalty Information Center, DNA evidence has led to the exoneration of more than 20 death row inmates since 1992. They also report that at least 200 people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated since 1973.
Issues with the death penalty also stem from years of racial justice. The Innocence Project reports that 58% of the wrongfully convicted defendants the group has proved innocent over the last 40 years were, like Williams, Black.
The Innocence Project released a statement following his execution, condemning the Supreme Court’s choice and offering condolences to both Williams’ and the victims’ family.
“Mr. Williams’ story echoes that of too many others caught in our country’s broken criminal legal system. A Black man convicted of killing a white woman, Mr. Williams maintained his innocence until the very end,” the statement said.
During the jury selection of Williams’ case, the prosecutor at the time removed 6 of 7 Black jurors, leaving 11 white jurors and 1 Black juror. He also testified that he struck one potential Black juror somewhat because he looked too much like Williams.
After Williams’ death, Gov. Parson claimed that he hoped it would bring closure, writing, "We hope this gives finality to a case that has languished for decades, revictimizing Ms. Gayle's family over and over again.”
Williams’ petition to delay the execution told a different story.
“The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” the petition stated. “Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”
By Mikayla Melo
Post a comment