Missouri’s Supreme Court and Governor stand firm on decision to proceed with execution of man convicted for 1998 murder | crime

The Missouri Supreme Court and the state's GOP Gov. Mike Parson every refused requests on Monday from an inmate trying to keep away from his scheduled execution.

Marcellus Williams, 55, is ready to be executed by deadly injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. in connection with the murder of Lisha Gayle, a social employee and former newspaper reporter who was stabbed greater than 40 occasions throughout a housebreaking at her dwelling in St. Louis in 1998, in accordance to The Associated Press. Williams has maintained his innocence.

Parson rejected Williams' clemency request to spare his life and as a substitute sentence him to life in jail. The state Supreme Court additionally rejected a request for the execution to be halted to enable a decrease court docket to make a brand new dedication about whether or not a trial prosecutor wrongly excluded a possible black juror due to racial bias.

His lawyer argued earlier than the state Supreme Court about alleged procedural errors in jury choice and the prosecution's alleged mishandling of the murder weapon. The court docket, in a unanimous decision, affirmed a decrease court docket ruling rejecting Williams' claims.

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Marcellus Williams, 55, is ready to be executed by deadly injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. (Missouri Department of Corrections through AP)

“Despite nearly a quarter-century of litigation in both state and federal courts, there is no credible evidence of actual innocence or any showing of a constitutional error undermining confidence in the original judgment,” Judge Zel Fischer wrote within the state ruling.

Williams' attorneys have additionally made an attraction earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court, which continues to be pending.

Parson stated Williams' legal professionals acquired ample authorized alternatives to try to make their shopper's case for his innocence. The governor additionally claimed Williams' attorneys had been making an attempt to “muddy the waters about DNA evidence” with allegations the courts have already rejected.

“Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams' innocence,” Parson stated in an announcement. “As such, Mr. Williams’ punishment will be carried out as ordered by the Supreme Court.”

The governor has by no means granted clemency in a dying penalty case.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has regarded to put aside Williams' sentence, pointing to questions on whether or not he's responsible. Bell plans to attraction the Missouri Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, his spokesman instructed The Associated Press.

“Even for those who disagree on the death penalty, when there is a shadow of a doubt of any defendant's guilt, the irreversible punishment of execution should not be an option,” Bell stated in an announcement.

Midwest Innocence Project lawyer Tricia Bushnell stated “Missouri is poised to execute an innocent man, an outcome that calls into question the legitimacy of the entire criminal justice system.”

During Williams' authentic trial, prosecutors claimed he broke into Gayle's dwelling on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water working within the bathe, discovered a big butcher knife and stabbed her 43 occasions when she got here downstairs. Gayle's purse and her husband's laptop computer laptop had been stolen from the house.

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Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated 20 years in the past after spending years on dying row, speaks at a rally to help Missouri dying row inmates Marcellus Williams on Aug. 21, 2024, in Clayton, Missouri. (AP)

Williams was accused of stealing a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams' girlfriend requested him why he would put on a jacket on a sizzling day, and she stated she later observed the purse and laptop computer in his automotive. Williams offered the pc a day or two later, his girlfriend stated.

Prosecutors additionally pointed to testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 whereas Williams was behind bars on unrelated prices. Cole stated Williams had confessed to the killing and provided particulars about it.

Williams' execution could be the third Missouri has carried out up to now this yr and the one hundredth because the state resumed executions in 1989.

This would be the third time Williams was nearing execution.

In January 2015, he was lower than every week away from execution when the state Supreme Court canceled it to enable time for his attorneys to pursue further DNA testing.

Williams was simply hours away from being executed in August 2017 when then-Republican Gov. Eric Greitens granted a keep and appointed a panel of retired judges to look at the case. The panel, nonetheless, by no means reached a conclusion within the case.

Concerns about DNA proof additionally prompted Bell to name for a listening to difficult whether or not Williams was responsible. But days earlier than the Aug. 21 listening to, new testing revealed that DNA on the knife belonged to folks within the prosecutor's workplace who dealt with it with out gloves following the unique checks.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson delivers the State of the State deal with on Jan. 18, 2023, in Jefferson City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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Without DNA proof implicating any various suspect, Midwest Innocence Project attorneys reached a compromise with the prosecutor's workplace wherein Williams would enter a brand new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in change for decreasing his sentence to life in jail with out parole.

Judge Bruce Hilton and Gayle's household signed off on the deal however, on the request of Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, the state Supreme Court blocked the settlement and ordered Hilton to transfer ahead with an evidentiary listening to, which was held on Aug. 28.

The prosecutor within the 2001 murder case argued on the listening to that the trial jury was truthful, regardless that it included only one black juror. The prosecutor stated he eliminated one potential black juror partly as a result of he regarded an excessive amount of like Williams, which Williams' attorneys say confirmed improper racial bias.

Hilton dominated earlier this month that the first-degree murder conviction and dying sentence would stand, highlighting that Williams' arguments had all been beforehand rejected, a ruling that was upheld Monday by the state Supreme Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.