Missouri executed a death row inmate on Tuesday after prosecutors supported his claims of innocence and opposed his bid to have the conviction overturned.
Marcellus “Kalifa” Williams, 55, was killed by lethal injection, ending a legal battle that sparked widespread outrage after prosecutors who initially tried the case argued he was wrongfully convicted.
In an extraordinary move that was condemned by civil rights activists and lawmakers across the country, Missouri's Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey went ahead with the execution against the wishes of the St. Louis County prosecutor's office.
Williams was convicted of murdering social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle in 1998. Accused He broke into Gayle's home, stabbed her to death, and stole some of her belongings.
But there was no forensic evidence linking Williams to the murder weapon or the crime scene, and local prosecutors have since set aside the conviction, leading some of the victim's family members and some jurors to say they also oppose the death penalty.
“We must all question any system that allows something like this to happen. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri's obsession with 'finalism' over truth, justice and humanity at all costs,” Williams' attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement shortly before the execution. “Tonight we all witness a grotesque exercise of Missouri's state power that must not be wasted. This should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again.”
Williams' son and two lawyers watched the execution from a separate room, according to the Associated Press. ReportedWilliams appeared to be speaking with a spiritual adviser at his side in his final moments, saying in a written “final statement”: release He said the prison officer told him, “Praise Allah in all circumstances!”
Williams is Provided He served as an imam in prison. PoetryWilliams' execution was halted at the last minute twice. In January 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court allowed Williams' defense team more time for DNA testing, bringing him within days of execution. In August 2017, then-Republican Governor Eric Greitens granted a stay of execution just hours before the scheduled execution after DNA testing on the knife turned up no traces of Williams' DNA.
Greitens established a commission to review the case, but current Republican Gov. Mike Parson disbanded it when he took office. Proceed with the execution.
In January, Wesley Bell, a St. Louis Democratic prosecutor who has advocated for criminal justice reform, Overturn Williams' convictionBell argued that repeated DNA tests showed Williams' fingerprints were not on the knife.
“Gale's killer left behind substantial physical evidence, none of which can be linked to Mr. Williams,” his office wrote, adding that “new evidence suggests that Mr. Williams is, in fact, innocent.” They also argued that Mr. Williams' defense at the time was ineffective.
But further examination of the knife revealed that prosecutors' staff had improperly handled it after the murder — including touching it without gloves before the trial, Bell's office said. Forensic experts testified Because the weapon was improperly handled, it was impossible to determine whether Williams' fingerprints had previously been on the knife.
In August, Williams and prosecutors reached an agreement to halt the death penalty, and Williams would plead not guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole. said The agreement was not an admission of guilt, but was intended to spare his life while they pursued new evidence to prove his innocence. Sign-off The agreement was challenged by the Attorney General, as were the victim's family members, but was blocked by the state Supreme Court.
Last-ditch efforts by Williams' lawyers and St. Louis prosecutors have failed in recent days. Plea Bell's office on the weekend said He said there were “constitutional errors” in Williams' prosecution and pointed to recent testimony from a former prosecutor who said he had rejected a potential black juror because he looked like Williams' “brother.” The jury that convicted him was made up of 11 white people and one black person.
The governor also denied Williams' clemency request Monday. attention The victim's family and three jurors supported calls to vacate the death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a final request to halt the execution. Three liberal justices be against.
The attorney general argued in court that the original prosecutors denied racial motives as a motive for excluding black jurors and that there was nothing impropriety in them touching the murder weapon without gloves at the time.
Bailey's office is also Suggested Other evidence also pointed to Williams' guilt, including the testimony of a man who shared his cell with Williams and who said he confessed, and a girlfriend who said she saw stolen items in Williams' car, but Williams' lawyers argued that the two witnesses, both of whom had been convicted of felonies and who only testified in exchange for a $10,000 reward, could not be trusted.
Bailey and Parson have not commented on the decision to ignore the wishes of the victim's family, but point to the fact that courts have repeatedly upheld Williams' convictions during his years of appeals.
“A kind and caring person”
Williams' execution was widely condemned Tuesday night.
Derrick Johnson, President of the NAACP; said Missouri “Once again, the state lynched an innocent black man.” Missouri Rep. Cori Bush said The state said it had let Williams down, adding, “We have a moral obligation to end this racist and inhumane practice,” and Bell said, “Marcellus Williams should have lived… This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”
Bushnell, Williams' attorney for the Midwest Innocence Project, praised Williams' “poignant poetry” and “commitment to his family and community,” and said he was “a kind and thoughtful person who supported those around him in his role as imam in the last years of his life.”
“Despite his longing to return home, he worked hard to overcome his anger, frustration and fear of unjust execution and turned to his faith, finding meaning and connection through Islam. The world would be a worse place without him,” she said.
Williams' public defender said the governor had “total disregard” for the victim's family, adding in a statement: “Kalifa was an inspiration and we admire his faith, integrity and complete dedication to those in his life.”
Michelle Smith, co-chair of a Missouri group calling for the abolition of the death penalty that saw Williams as a leader, said in an interview before the execution that she hoped Williams' case would help the public understand that “the death penalty doesn't work.”
“I know people who say, 'Innocent people shouldn't be killed, but otherwise I support the death penalty.' But if you believe in the death penalty at all, that means you're okay with innocent people being killed, because the death penalty is not perfect. It kills innocent people.”
At least 200 people have been sentenced to death since 1973. ExoneratedAccording to the Death Penalty Information Center, it is the first execution since 2015. Robin Maher, the group's executive director, said she was not aware of another case in which the death penalty was carried out after a sitting prosecutor challenged and admitted to constitutional errors that overturned a conviction.
Williams' execution was five schedule Executions were carried out across the US in the past week. On Friday, South Carolina executed a man just days after the state's main witness recanted his testimony. On Tuesday, Texas executed Executed Travis Mullis, 38, has waived his right to appeal after being sentenced to death for the murder of his three-month-old son in 2008. His lawyers said he suffered from “serious mental illness” his whole life but was a “redeemed man” who accepted responsibility for his crime.
