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. He was accused of breaking into Gayle’s home, stabbing her to death and stealing several 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.”
According to the Associated Press, Williams’ son and two lawyers watched the execution from a separate room. Williams was apparently speaking with a spiritual leader at his side during his final moments. In a “final statement” released by prison officials, he said, “I will praise Allah no matter what!!!”
Williams, who served as an imam at the prison and dedicated his time to writing poetry, had his execution halted at the last minute twice. In January 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court gave Williams’ defense team more time for DNA testing, leaving him days to go. 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 showed no trace of Williams’ DNA.
Greitens appointed a commission to review the case, but when current Republican Governor Mike Parson took office he dissolved the commission and went ahead with the execution.
In January, Wesley Bell, a St. Louis Democrat who has advocated for criminal justice reform, filed a motion to overturn Williams’ conviction. Bell argued that repeated DNA tests showed no fingerprints of Williams 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 a prosecutor’s staff member had improperly handled it after the murder — touching it without gloves before the trial, Bell’s office said. A forensic expert testified that the improper handling of the knife made it impossible to determine whether Williams’ fingerprints had been on it previously.
In August, Williams and prosecutors reached an agreement to stay the death penalty. Williams would plead not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole. Williams’ lawyers said the agreement was not an admission of guilt, but was intended to spare Williams’ life while they pursued new evidence to prove his innocence. The judge and the victim’s family signed the agreement, but it was challenged by the attorney general and blocked by the state Supreme Court.
Last-ditch efforts by Williams’ defense team and St. Louis prosecutors have borne fruit in recent days. In a weekend plea, Bell’s office said there were “constitutional errors” in the prosecution of Williams and pointed to recent testimony by the original prosecutor that 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 on Monday also denied Williams’ request for clemency, which noted that the victim’s family and three jurors supported overturning the death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, with three liberal justices dissenting, denied a final request to stay the execution.
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 has suggested there is evidence pointing to Williams’ guilt, including the testimony of a man who shared a cell with Williams and said he confessed, and a girlfriend who said she saw stolen items in Williams’ car, but Williams’ lawyers have argued that the two witnesses are not credible because they both have convicted felonies and were motivated to testify by the $10,000 reward.
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 years of appeals.
“A kind and caring person”
Williams’ execution was widely condemned Tuesday night.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Missouri had “yet again lynched an innocent black man.” Missouri Rep. Cori Bush said the state had failed Williams, adding, “We have a moral obligation to end this racist and inhumane practice.” And Bell said, “Marcellus Williams should have lived… This outcome does 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 the anger, frustration and fear he felt at his 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 “completely disregarded” 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.”
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, at least 200 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973. Robin Maher, executive director of the center, said she was not aware of any other cases in which the death penalty was carried out after a sitting prosecutor challenged and admitted to constitutional errors that overturned a conviction.
Williams’ execution is one of five scheduled across the country in the space of a week. On Friday, South Carolina executed a man days after the state’s main witness recanted his testimony. On Tuesday, Texas executed Travis Mullis, a 38-year-old man sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of his 3-month-old son but who had waived his right to appeal. Mullis’ lawyers said he suffered from “serious mental illness” his whole life but was a “redeemed man” who accepted responsibility for his crimes.
