Wednesday, September 25, 2024 - A death row inmate has been executed for the murder of a woman during a home invasion, despite the prosecutor, victim’s family, and Richard Branson calling for his life to be spared.
Marcellus Williams, 55, was convicted of the 1998 killing of
Felicia ‘Lisha’ Gayle, who was stabbed more than 40 times during a burglary at
her home in St Louis, Missouri.
He was killed by lethal injection yesterday, September 24.
His final words were: "All praise be to Allah in every situation".
High-profile figures including British
entrepreneur Richard Branson were among those calling for a reprieve.
Speaking to the BBC, Branson revealed he had spent part of the day focused on the Williams case.
"He’s an innocent person," Branson said.
"Even the prosecuting council have told the governor they should not, this
man is innocent."
Branson also wrote a post on his blog, calling for Governor
Mike Parson to step in and stop the "killing of an innocent man on his
watch"
Branson wrote: "While investigators found plenty of forensic evidence at the crime scene, none of it could be linked to Mr. Williams. His conviction was entirely based on the inconsistent and unverified testimony of two incentivised witnesses.
"Throughout this ordeal, Mr Williams has been
maintaining his innocence. And in 2016, DNA testing did confirm Mr. Williams
was not the source of the male DNA found on the murder weapon."
Williams’s execution was one of five taking place in
the US in the space of just a week – the highest number in two
decades.
His last meal included chicken wings and tater tots.
As Williams lay awaiting execution, he appeared to chat with
a spiritual advisor seated next to him.
His chest heaved about a half dozen times after the lethal
injection was administered, and he showed no further movement.
Williams’ son and two lawyers watched from another room. No
one was present on behalf of the victim’s family.
"Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque
exercise of state power," one of his attorneys, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said
in a statement. "Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we
must not let it continue."
Williams’s legal team had argued there were concerns over
the handling of his case, with black jurors wrongly excluded from his trial.
They also said there was no forensic evidence linking him to
the scene and that the murder weapon had been mishandled, raising questions
over DNA evidence.
More than a million petitions requesting a stay of execution were delivered to the office of Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson.
The NAACP had been among those urging Parson to cancel the
execution.
"Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black
man," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
Williams was among death row inmates in five
states who were scheduled to be put to death in the span of a week — an
unusually high number that defies a yearslong decline in the use and
support of the death penalty in the US.
The first was carried out Friday, September 20, in
South Carolina. Texas was also slated to execute a prisoner on
Tuesday evening.
It was the third time Williams faced execution.
He got reprieves in 2015 and 2017, but his last-ditch
efforts this time were futile.
Parson and the state Supreme Court rejected his appeals in
quick succession Monday, September 23, and the US Supreme Court declined to
intervene hours before he was put to death.
The governor said he hoped the execution brings finality to
a case that "languished for decades, re-victimising Ms Gayle’s family over
and over again".
"No juror nor judge has ever found Williams’ innocence
claim to be credible," Parson said in a statement.
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