Missouri’s 100th execution since 1989 resumes

Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old black man, was executed in Missouri on September 24, 2024 despite serious questions about the quality of his legal representation at trial, the credibility of key prosecution witnesses, the state’s delivery of DNA evidence and the role of race in the case. The governor denied clemency and the courts rejected the final appeals.

No further action is requested. MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT AN APPEAL.

The murder victim, a 42-year-old white woman, was stabbed to death in her home in University City, St. Louis, Missouri on August 11, 1998. During the 2001 trial of Marcellus Williams, the prosecutor fired six of the seven black suspects. -are members of the jury. The jury consisted of eleven white people and one black person. Marcellus Williams was sentenced to death in August 2001.

On September 21, 2024, a circuit judge on a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit wrote that while she “reluctantly” agreed with her two colleagues that they were procedurally barred from granting relief to Marcellus Williams, she “reluctantly” agreed with her two colleagues that they were procedurally prevented from granting Marcellus Williams an exemption, “deeply disturbed by many aspects of the proceedings that have taken place to date,” including evidence that “racial bias has been on trial since contaminated the beginning,” and how “the evidence in this case also looks different today than it did at the time of the trial. trial,” such as new evidence that “undermines the reliability” of “the only two witnesses who placed Williams at the scene of the crime,” and “additional DNA test results on the physical evidence.” She concluded that there was “nothing about our ruling today that precludes other possible relief options for Marcellus Williams.”

However, such options – judicial or executive – remained blocked. On September 23, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that “there is no credible evidence of factual innocence or any showing of constitutional error to undermine confidence in the original verdict.” Governor Mike Parson announced the same day that he was rejecting clemency. The governor, a former state lawmaker and county sheriff, has not yet granted clemency in a death penalty case. This was Missouri’s twelfth execution since he was sworn in as governor on June 1, 2018. In a statement announcing that the execution of Marcellus Williams would go ahead, Governor Parson said: “Death penalty cases are among the most difficult issues we must resolve. speech in the governor’s office, but when push comes to shove, I follow the law and trust the integrity of our legal system.” Nevertheless, the next day it was revealed that at least a third of the US Supreme Court justices had serious concerns about the case when they disagreed with the Court’s refusal to intervene to stop the execution. The three justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – said they would have granted a stay.

In a statement before Marcellus Williams’ execution, his lawyers said: “The victim’s family opposes his execution. Jurors, who originally sentenced him to death, are now opposing his execution. The prosecution who sentenced him to death have now admitted they were wrong and have fought diligently to overturn the conviction and save Mr Williams’ life. More than a million concerned citizens and faith leaders implored Governor Parson to commute Marcellus’ death sentence. Missouri will kill him anyway. That’s not justice. And we must all question every system that allows this to happen… Tonight we all witness Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power.”

There have been 15 executions in the US this year, bringing the total number of executions in the country to 1,598 since the US Supreme Court upheld new capital statutes in 1976. Missouri carried out its first execution after 1976 in 1989. The execution of Marcellus Williams was the 100th in the state since 1989, with three so far this year. Only Texas (590), Oklahoma (125), Virginia (113, now abolitionist) and Florida (106) have higher totals. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances.