Evidence of Marcellus Williams’s Potential Innocence Came to Light in 2017. He is Slated for Execution in 26 Days

Mar. 15, 2025

Marcellus Williams.Photo:Marcellus Williams' Legal Team

Marcellus Williams' Legal Team

But Marcellus Williams is slated for execution on Sept. 24, 2024, at 6 p.m.

Marcellus Williams in mugshots taken in 2014 and 2023 during his more than 20-year incarceration.Missouri Department of Corrections via AP; Missouri Department of Corrections

Missouri Department of Corrections via AP; Missouri Department of Corrections

Gayle, a journalist at theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, was found brutally murdered inside her gated community home in University City, Mo., on Aug. 11, 1998.

Her husband, Dr. Daniel Picus, found her with a knife lodged in her neck and wearing only a purple shirt, according to prosecutors’ 63-page motion filed in January under a new Missouri law allowing the state to intervene in a past conviction if the integrity of that conviction is questionable.

Investigators later determined that Gayle had been stabbed at least 43 times, dying from 16 wounds to her head, neck, chest and abdomen.

The killer – who took her purse and a laptop among other items but left her wedding ring and jewelry – had used one of her own kitchen knives during the assault.

Over the course of the investigation, police noted bloody shoe prints near the knife sheath in the kitchen and on the rug near her body. Bloody fingerprints ran along the wall and hairs were collected from her hands, t-shirt and the floor.

But despite media attention surrounding the woman’s death, police made little progress in the investigation – until two informants came forward, naming Williams.

Marcellus Williams writes poetry and serves as the imam for Muslim prisoners at Potosi Correctional Center in Washington County, Mo., where he is affectionately known as “Khaliifah.".Marcellus Williams' Legal Team

Williams, who struggled with drug addiction, had been arrested on Aug. 31, 1998 for robbing a donut shop. His girlfriend around that time, as well as someone he had been incarcerated with, gave inconsistent stories to investigators who nevertheless used those narratives to arrest Williams in 1999 and put him on trial two years later.

A jury of 11 White people and 1 Black person convicted him in 2001 of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, armed criminal action, and robbery.

The prosecutor had removed six qualified Black prospective jurors from the pool using peremptory challenges, according to the Innocence Project.

In his motion to vacate the sentence, current Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell referred to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Office’s “history of excluding” Black jurors as “no secret” and said the practice had violated Williams’s constitutional rights.

In 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court stayed an earlier execution date for Williams and appointed a special master to review DNA evidence that ultimately determined that the DNA on the murder weapon did not belong to Williams, according to prosecutors and the Innocence Project.

Two years later, that special master – who did not make any findings on the test results – sent the case back to the Missouri Supreme Court, which rescheduled Williams’s execution for Aug. 22, 2017 – without considering the new evidence.

Just hours before his set execution, then-Governor Eric Greitens stayed the execution, appointing a Board of Inquiry – which in accordance with Missouri law was to issue a formal report following its review – to look further into the case.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (left) with Gov. Mike Parson (right) at a press conference regarding unregulated psychoactive cannabis products at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. Aug. 1, 2024.AP Photo/David A. Lieb

AP Photo/David A. Lieb

Instead, in June 2023, Governor Mike Parson dissolved the board ahead of any report or recommendation.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey quickly called for a new execution date.

Williams sued the governor, claiming his constitutional rights had been violated with the dissolution of the board, according to the Innocence Project. The governor went to the state supreme court, which dismissed the lawsuit this June, and Williams’s execution date was set for Sept. 24.

Parson – who declined through his office to answer questions from PEOPLE, citing pending litigation – said in a recent statement that he was following “standard practice” and that his decisions were “not unique to Mr. Williams’ case.”

Then on Aug. 21, Williams’s defense learned that prosecutors had inadvertently gotten their own fingerprints on the knife, both sides confirm to PEOPLE, with Chris King of the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Office acknowledging that it “reflected improper handling of evidence.”

The two sides agreed upon anAlford pleawhich allowed the state to keep its conviction while Williams, who was not admitting guilt, would be taken off death row.

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That same day, Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed awrit application, blocking the court’s ability to resentence Williams to life without parole and leading the circuit court judge toschedulethe Aug. 28 evidentiary hearing.

“It is in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheld – every time, without fail,” Bailey said in astatement.

“Today, we saw two different approaches to prosecution, one committed to serving justice, the other intent on winning at any cost," the Innocence Project’s Bushnell said in a statement after the hearing.

source: people.com