Death row inmate executed for stabbing woman to death despite prosecutors arguing he’s ‘likely innocent’
A death row inmate has been executed despite prosecutors pleading his innocence to the State of Missouri.
Marcellus Williams was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of journalist Felicia Gayle back in 1998 - a crime that he has denied for the last 23 years, ever since he was convicted back in 2001.
On August 11, 1998, the 42-year-old reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was discovered dead at her home, having been brutally stabbed with a butcher knife from her kitchen up to 43 times.
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Her belongings - including her purse, jacket and other items - were missing, as well as her husband's laptop.
The following year in May, her family put a $10,000 reward out for any information to help crack the case. This is when Lara Asaro, Williams' girlfriend, and Henry Cole, his cellmate in prison, both came forward claiming it was Williams who was responsible for the crime.
Cole had already been released from jail but Williams, who was then 30, had just began serving a 20-year sentence after he was convicted of robbing a donut store.
His former cellmate claimed that Williams confessed to him while they were both serving time unrelated to the murder that he killed Gayle.
And when Asaro informed the police, she claimed her partner had confessed his crimes and allegedly provided details that hadn't already been reported by the newspapers - something that Innocence Project refuted.
The charity organization took on the case in a bid to exonerate him following his conviction.
But Williams was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, robbery and armed criminal action, and a trial subsequently took place with a jury of 11 white people and just one Black person.
Innocence Project claimed that Keith Larner, of the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office, removed six qualified Black jurors from the pool - while he himself admitted that he struck one off as he 'looked similar' to the defendant.
The Black juror wore glasses like Williams and had 'piercing eyes', Larner said, as well as the same complexion.
Despite his DNA not matching the forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene, Williams was ultimately found guilty of all charges and placed on death row.
Over the weekend, just days before the 55-year-old was tragically executed, St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office filed a 73-page document stating that there is no forensic evidence linking Williams to the Gayle's murder.
Despite the joint-brief from both county prosecutors and Williams' defense lawyers, he died at 6pm (Central Time) yesterday (September 24), by lethal injection.
His attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell issued a shared statement with the Innocence Project before his death.
It read in part: "Missouri is poised to execute an innocent man, an outcome that calls into question the legitimacy of the entire criminal justice system."
Explaining why they blocked the motion in a statement, per USA Today, Republican Governor Mike Parson said: "No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims."
UNILAD has contacted Missouri Supreme Court for comment.
Joe Yates