{"id":16043,"date":"2024-09-29T00:05:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T00:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/?p=16043"},"modified":"2024-09-29T00:05:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T00:05:36","slug":"missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span> 235<\/span> Views<\/span><\/div>

Williams long maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by victim\u2019s family, jurors and office that tried him.<\/p>\n

Missouri executed a man on death row on Tuesday, despite objections from prosecutors who sought to have his conviction overturned and have supported his claims of innocence.<\/p>\n

Marcellus \u201cKhaliifah\u201d Williams, 55, was killed by lethal injection, ending a legal battle that has sparked widespread outrage as the office that originally tried the case suggested he was wrongfully convicted.<\/p>\n

In an extraordinary move condemned by civil rights advocates and lawmakers across the US, Missouri\u2019s Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, pushed forward with the execution against the wishes of the St Louis county prosecuting attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Williams was convicted of the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former St Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. He was accused of breaking into Gayle\u2019s home, stabbing her to death and stealing several of her belongings.<\/p>\n

But no forensic evidence linked Williams to the murder weapon or crime scene, and as local prosecutors have renounced his conviction, the victim\u2019s family and several trial jurors also said they opposed his execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must all question any system that would allow this to occur. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri\u2019s obsession with \u2018finality\u2019 over truth, justice, and humanity, at any cost,\u201d Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Williams\u2019 attorney, said in a statement just before the execution. \u201cTonight, we all bear witness to Missouri\u2019s grotesque exercise of state power. Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 son and two of his attorneys watched the execution from another room, the AP reported. Williams appeared to speak with a spiritual adviser by his side in his final moments. In a written \u201clast statement\u201d released by corrections officials, he said: \u201cAll Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who served as the imam in his prison and dedicated his time to poetry, twice had his execution halted at the last minute. He was days away from execution in January 2015 when the Missouri state supreme court granted his attorneys more time for DNA testing. In August 2017, Eric Greitens, the Republican governor at the time, granted a reprieve hours before the scheduled execution, citing DNA testing on the knife, which showed no trace of Williams\u2019 DNA.<\/p>\n

Greitens set up a panel to review the case but when Mike Parson, the current Republican governor, took over, he disbanded that board and pushed for the execution to proceed.<\/p>\n

In January, Wesley Bell, the Democratic prosecuting attorney in St Louis who has championed criminal justice reforms, filed a motion to overturn Williams\u2019 conviction. Bell cited repeated DNA testing finding that Williams\u2019 fingerprints were not on the knife.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Gayle\u2019s murderer left behind considerable physical evidence. None of that physical evidence can be tied to Mr Williams,\u201d his office wrote, adding: \u201cNew evidence suggests that Mr Williams is actually innocent.\u201d He also asserted that Williams\u2019 counsel at the time was ineffective.<\/p>\n

Additional testing on the knife, however, revealed that staff with the prosecutors\u2019 office had mishandled the weapon after the killing \u2013 touching it without gloves before the trial, Bell\u2019s office said. A forensic expert testified that the mishandling of the weapon made it impossible to determine if Williams\u2019 fingerprints could have been on the knife earlier.<\/p>\n

Officers patrol as protesters opposed to the execution of Marcellus Williams pray outside the state prison on 24 September 2024, in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Photograph: Zachary Linhares\/AP<\/p>\n

In August, Williams and prosecutors reached an agreement to halt his execution: he would plead no contest to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life without parole. His lawyers said the agreement was not an admission of guilt, and that it was meant to save his life while he pursued new evidence to prove his innocence. A judge signed off on the agreement, as did the victim\u2019s family, but the attorney general challenged it, and the state supreme court blocked it.<\/p>\n

Last-ditch efforts by both Williams\u2019 lawyers and St Louis prosecutors were unsuccessful in recent days. In a plea over the weekend, Bell\u2019s office said there were \u201cconstitutional errors\u201d in Williams\u2019 prosecution and pointed to recent testimony from the original prosecutor, who said he rejected a potential Black juror because he looked like he could be Williams\u2019 \u201cbrother\u201d. The jury that convicted him had 11 white members and one Black member.<\/p>\n

The governor also rejected Williams\u2019 clemency request on Monday, which noted that the victim\u2019s family and three jurors supported calls to revoke his death sentence. The US supreme court denied a final request to halt the execution on Tuesday, with the three liberal justices dissenting.<\/p>\n

The attorney general argued in court that the original prosecutor denied racial motivations for removing Black jurors and asserted there was nothing improper about touching the murder weapon without gloves at the time.<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s office has also suggested that other evidence points to Williams\u2019 guilt, including testimony from a man who shared a cell with Williams and said he confessed, and testimony from a girlfriend who claimed she saw stolen items in Williams\u2019 car. Williams\u2019 attorneys, however, contended that both of those witnesses were not reliable, saying they had been convicted of felonies and were motivated to testify by a $10,000 reward offer.<\/p>\n

Bailey and Parson have not commented on their decision to override the wishes of the victim\u2019s family, but have pointed to the fact that the courts have repeatedly upheld Williams\u2019 conviction throughout his years of appeals.<\/p>\n

Culled from www.theguardian.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

235 ViewsWilliams long maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by victim\u2019s family, jurors…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[408],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"235 ViewsWilliams long maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by victim\u2019s family, jurors...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"593\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"346\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nnabuife\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg\",\"width\":593,\"height\":346},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/\",\"name\":\"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc6c3e39958c06697651244ed5a4962\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc6c3e39958c06697651244ed5a4962\",\"name\":\"Nnabuife\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/722699e00da7ed3dbbf6a91b54214edd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/722699e00da7ed3dbbf6a91b54214edd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nnabuife\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/umuakatimes.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/author\/gamexplay\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -","og_description":"235 ViewsWilliams long maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by victim\u2019s family, jurors...","og_url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/","article_published_time":"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":593,"height":346,"url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nnabuife","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_20240929_010027.jpg","width":593,"height":346},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/","name":"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction. -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-29T00:05:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc6c3e39958c06697651244ed5a4962"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams-despite-prosecutors-push-to-overturn-conviction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors\u2019 push to overturn conviction."}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#\/schema\/person\/2bc6c3e39958c06697651244ed5a4962","name":"Nnabuife","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/722699e00da7ed3dbbf6a91b54214edd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/722699e00da7ed3dbbf6a91b54214edd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nnabuife"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/umuakatimes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/author\/gamexplay\/"}]}},"views":137,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16045,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043\/revisions\/16045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umuakatimes.com\/topnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}