A change to Missouri’s law in 2021 is setting the stage for a legal battle over the upcoming execution of a man on death row for a crime many say he didn’t commit.
Marcellus Williams has spent 24 years behind bars after he was convicted in the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and one-time St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. The next step in Williams’ upcoming execution was taken when the Missouri Supreme Court announced the execution date for Sept. 24.
One of the groups pushing for Williams’ release is the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the same office that originally convicted Williams of the crime. Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a legal motion in January to halt Williams’ execution based on the DNA evidence.
Bell’s move to vacate the conviction is possible thanks to a change made to Missouri’s law in 2021, which allows prosecutor offices to go back and challenge prosecutions their office had previously brought, a power that was previously reserved for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. The law change has previously led to the release of two men from prison: Kevin Strickland in 2021 and Lamar Johnson in 2022.
This was the first time in state history that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for an inmate who has an active motion to vacate filed under this new statute. The execution date doesn’t mean the court isn’t actively considering Bell’s motion. Rather, it sets a deadline for the motion to be decided.
(Photo courtesy Department of Corrections)
