A 55-year-old Missouri man — who maintained he was harmless — was executed Tuesday night, and have become the most recent of a number of latest individuals put to loss of life who’ve renewed scrutiny of the loss of life penalty.
In 2001, Marcellus Williams was convicted of the 1998 killing of social employee and former St. Louis Submit-Dispatch reporter Felicia “Lisha” Gayle, and sentenced to loss of life. Since his sentencing, questions have been raised about how proof within the case was dealt with and whether or not jury choice for his trial was honest.
Given these issues, and Williams’s continued claims that he didn’t kill Gayle, he and St. Louis prosecuting legal professional Wesley Bell known as for the state to vacate his conviction. Whereas his execution was beforehand delayed twice earlier than, the Missouri governor and state Supreme Court docket have declined to take action once more this previous week, and he was killed by deadly injection Tuesday.
The excellent uncertainty in Williams’s case — and the truth that he was put to loss of life anyway — have put a brand new highlight on capital punishment and plenty of issues which have been cited with it.
What are the brand new developments in Williams’s case?
Williams was convicted for Gayle’s homicide based mostly on the testimony of two witnesses, together with his girlfriend on the time, who mentioned she noticed the sufferer’s purse and laptop computer in his automotive. Williams was incarcerated on the time of his conviction within the Gayle case, and his then-cellmate Henry Cole additionally claimed that Williams had admitted to the killing.
Williams’s counsel argues that each witnesses had different motives for singling him out, together with “reward cash and a cut price for shorter sentences in their very own prison circumstances,” in response to the Washington Submit.
As USA Right this moment notes, there wasn’t forensic proof linking Williams to the crime, and his DNA was not discovered on the homicide weapon — a knife.
Since his conviction, Williams’s counsel has known as for larger investigation of the DNA that was on the knife, in addition to a overview of racial bias within the jury choice course of. Gayle’s household has additionally backed clemency and the potential of a life sentence with out parole.
Beforehand, Williams’s counsel satisfied former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens that new testing of the DNA proof, which included DNA from one other man, had the potential to exonerate him. That led Greitens to grant a keep of execution in 2017 and to convene a panel to analyze this proof.
Attorneys have since discovered, although, that the knife had fingerprints and DNA from a prosecutor who had touched the homicide weapon with out sporting gloves, contaminating the proof.
Williams’s allies have additionally argued he confronted racial bias in his trial after a former prosecutor mentioned he eliminated a Black juror due to his resemblance to Williams.
Williams’s attorneys known as on the US Supreme Court docket to grant a keep of the execution because of this proof of bias. The Court docket didn’t accomplish that.
The Missouri Supreme Court docket additionally declined to grant a keep, with Decide Zel Fischer citing “no credible proof of precise innocence or any exhibiting of a constitutional error undermining confidence within the unique judgment.”
What issues does this increase about capital punishment?
The usage of capital punishment has waned lately as issues about how properly it really works as a deterrent, how humane it’s, and racial disparities in loss of life sentences have grown. In line with one 2016 research in Washington State, Black defendants are 4 occasions extra prone to be sentenced to loss of life than non-Black defendants in comparable circumstances.
Though 27 states nonetheless permit the loss of life penalty, 14 of these haven’t carried out any executions previously 10 years, in response to CNN. Executions have additionally dwindled since 1999, which marked a latest excessive when almost 100 individuals had been killed. In 2023, 24 individuals had been executed throughout 5 states; presently, 24 persons are anticipated to be executed this 12 months.
Among the many issues raised by executions is the worry that harmless individuals may face these sentences. Williams’s staff has been adamant that his case is an instance of this concern.
“Missouri is poised to execute an harmless man, an final result that calls into query the legitimacy of your complete prison justice system,” Tricia Bushnell, a Midwest Innocence Venture legal professional representing Williams, mentioned in a press release earlier than the execution.
In line with the Dying Penalty Data Heart, a minimum of 200 individuals who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to loss of life have been exonerated since 1973. And per a 2014 research estimate, roughly 4 p.c of the individuals sentenced to loss of life are harmless.
Replace, September 25, 10 am: This piece, initially revealed on September 24, has been up to date to mirror Williams’s execution.