Updated as of 8/26/2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET (Correction: Williams did not refuse the Alfred plea deal.)
The Missouri Supreme Court offered a Black Missouri man a get-out-execution-free pass. However, his execution date is still scheduled for the next 30 days after opposition from the attorney general
Wednesday’s hearing threw a wrench in Marcellus Williams’ innocence claim. Experts testified that the knife used in the 1998 killing of Felicia Gayle was mishandled following the crime, per The Associated Press. Therefore, Williams’ argument that his DNA was not on the knife could not be confirmed due to contamination from previous prosecutors and law enforcement.
In response, St. Louis County County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton offered Williams an option to enter an Alford plea to first-degree murder in the 1998 of a white woman. While the plea is not an admission of guilt, it is agreeing there is enough evidence to sustain a conviction.
The decision allows him to be moved from death row to a life sentence in prison without parole. Williams accepted the deal. However, Attorney General Andrew Bailey opposed the deal and with support from the Missouri Supreme Court, Williams’ chance at a resentencing was blocked.
Now, Williams’ hope for anything other than execution will be determined a hearing scheduled for Aug. 28 where he must present evidence to prove he did not hold the murder weapon used in the crime.
With that being said, his execution date is still set for Sept. 24 and Williams has less than 30 days to see if this Hail Mary attempt that will be enough to send him home.
What Happened in 1998?
The 55-year-old was accused of killing Gayle inside her St. Louis home in August 1998. Police said she was stabbed a total of 43 times with a kitchen knife. The following year, an informant told authorities Williams confessed to the murder in exchange for a monetary reward offered for any information pointing to a potential suspect, according to a motion filed by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
William’s ex-girlfriend also told police he confessed to the crime and claimed she saw him the afternoon of the incident with blood on his shirt and scratches on his neck, per the motion filing.
Among those allegations were suspicions that Williams was in possession of some of Gayle’s missing belongings. However, the motion said the forensic evidence found at the scene of the murder did not match to him. Therefore, Williams’ trial weighed mainly on the two statements against him, leading to a swift conviction on first-degree murder and a near lifetime on death row.
Williams was originally set to be executed back in August 2017. However, hours before the execution, a new discovery saved his life.
Read more from CBS News:
He was hours away from execution in August 2017 when then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, granted a stay after DNA testing unavailable at the time of the killing showed that DNA on the knife matched someone else, not Williams.
That evidence prompted Bell to reexamine the case.
“This never-before-considered evidence, when paired with the relative paucity of other, credible evidence supporting guilt, as well as additional considerations of ineffective assistance of counsel and racial discrimination in jury selection, casts inexorable doubt on Mr. Williams’s conviction and sentence,” Bell’s motion states.
Williams’ case is the first to go before a judge since the passing of the 2021 Missouri law allowing prosecutors to seek to vacate a wrongful conviction. CNN reports that the judge’s decision usually comes after almost two months after evidence is presented.
However, Williams’ next execution date still looms.