Published 2024-09-25 01.51
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full screenMarcellus Williams was killed by an injection of venom. Photo: AP
The murder victim’s relatives pleaded for his life.
Three of the US Supreme Court justices dissented.
On the night of Tuesday, Marcellus Williams, 55, was executed anyway.
Marcellus Williams, 55, was convicted in 2001 of a robbery-murder in St. Louis three years earlier.
The victim was Lisha Gayle, 42, a newspaper reporter who trained as a social worker. She was stabbed to death 43 times when she got out of the shower. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen by the killer.
During the night of Wednesday, Swedish time, Marcellus Williams was killed with a poison injection in the prison in Missouri.
The execution was carried out despite protests from Lisha Gayle’s relatives as well as the local prosecutor’s office. They demanded that Marcellus Williams have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, writes AP.
Williams’ lawyers tried to the last to stop the execution. They referred to the Gayles family’s wishes, but also alleged deficiencies in both evidence handling and jury composition during the trial.
On Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court and governor rejected the claims. On Tuesday, hours before the execution, the US Supreme Court also gave the green light. HD, as usual, gave no justification for the decision not to stop the execution, however according to CNN three of the judges dissented in one of the appeals filed by Williams’ lawyers.
Marcellus Williams has always maintained that he is innocent of the murder.
Among other things, his lawyers have argued that he cannot be tied to the murder scene and that DNA from another man was found on the murder weapon. These dna traces were later found to come from a law enforcement employee who held the knife without gloves.
The lawyers have also noted that the jury that convicted him was composed without black members.
The Missouri Department of Justice has maintained that the rest of the evidence that got him convicted is intact.
“The victim’s personal belongings were found in Williams’ car after the murder. A witness said Williams had sold him the victim’s laptop. Williams confessed to his girlfriend and an inmate at the jail and Williams’ girlfriend saw him dispose of bloody clothing worn during the murder,” wrote the state’s attorney general in a statement.
The lawyers responded that both the girlfriend and the inmate at the jail have been convicted of serious crimes and wanted the $10,000 reward. They also claim that fingerprints, a bloody shoe print and other evidence at the crime scene did not match Williams.
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full screen A demonstration against the execution a few weeks ago. Photo: Jim Salter/AP
