Marcellus Williams appeals to U.S. Supreme Court in series of efforts to stop MO execution
Attorneys for Marcellus Williams, who faces death by lethal injection next Tuesday, have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court questioning if his due process rights were violated.
It is one of several avenues his legal team is pursuing in a push to save his life.
The 55-year-old Missouri man was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1998 stabbing of Felicia Gayle in St. Louis County.
In the years since his 2001 conviction, his case has presented unique legal challenges.
Execution dates in 2015 and 2017 were halted to conduct further investigation and DNA testing. No forensic evidence ties Williams to the murder, and he has maintained he is innocent.
In August 2017, former Gov. Eric Greitens convened a board of inquiry to look into Williams’ case. It was the third time in Missouri’s history that a governor had formed such a board.
In June 2023, with little explanation, Gov. Mike Parson dissolved the board and lifted the stay of execution. It’s unclear if the board, comprised of five retired judges, made findings or presented recommendations to the governor. Williams’ attorneys sued, but lost before the Missouri Supreme Court, which said he did not have due process rights within the clemency process.
The petition filed Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court looks to a 1998 Ohio case that went before the high court, which issued a 4-4-1 split decision. Williams’ attorneys argue that the controlling decision gave capital prisoners some due process rights during clemency proceedings, and that the the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling conflicted with that decision.
St. Louis County prosecutors support vacating Williams’ conviction. A 2021 law allowed them to intervene on Williams’ behalf and present evidence at a hearing in August. It was the first time the new statute had been used in a death penalty case. Their motion was struck down last week, but prosecutors are planning to appeal.
Williams’ legal team on Tuesday filed a federal motion alleging that testimony at the August hearing proved there was racial bias in the initial trial’s jury selection process.
They have also submitted a clemency application to Parson’s office.
Williams’ attorneys noted that his execution would be the first in Missouri opposed by both the prosecutor’s office and the victim’s family.
On Wednesday, Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat, sent a letter to Parson urging him to grant clemency.
“Marcellus Williams has always maintained his innocence and his conviction is based solely on unreliable testimony contradicted by the available physical evidence,” the letter said.
“Proceeding with the execution of Marcellus Williams would be a grave injustice and would do serious and lasting harm.”
