Who is Marcellus Williams? Missouri man executed despite victim’s family’s calls to spare his life

This undated booking photo provided by the Missouri department of corrections shows Marcellus Williams (Pic credit: AP)

Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old man from Missouri, was executed on Tuesday despite objections from the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who sought to commute the death sentence to life in prison. Williams was convicted of breaking into Lisha Gayle‘s suburban St Louis home in 1998 and repeatedly stabbing her.
Williams’ attorneys raised concerns about jury selection at his trial and the handling of evidence in the case.The clemency petition emphasised that Gayle’s relatives wanted Williams’ sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole, saying, “The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live. Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”
During the execution, Williams appeared to converse with a spiritual advisor and showed some movement before his chest heaved about half a dozen times. His son and two attorneys were present in another room, but no one was there on behalf of the victim’s family. The Department of Corrections released a brief statement written by Williams ahead of time, saying, “All Praise Be to Allah In Every Situation!!!”
Governor Mike Parson and the state Supreme Court rejected Williams’ appeals, and the US Supreme Court declined to intervene.
The NAACP urged Parson to cancel the execution, with president Derrick Johnson saying, “Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man.”
Last month, an agreement between the St Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office and Williams’ attorneys to commute the sentence to life in prison was nullified by the state Supreme Court after an appeal from the Missouri attorney general’s office.
Questions about DNA evidence led to a hearing challenging Williams’ guilt, but new testing showed that the DNA on the knife belonged to members of the prosecutor’s office who handled it without gloves.
Williams’ attorneys also challenged the fairness of his trial, particularly the fact that only one of the 12 jurors was Black. The prosecutor, Keith Larner, testified that he struck one potential Black juror partly because he looked too much like Williams, which Williams’ attorneys asserted showed improper racial bias.
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