Marcellus Williams, the Missouri death row inmate who had hoped that DNA evidence on the murder weapon would prove his innocence, dropped his innocence claim on Wednesday and entered a new no-contest plea in an agreement that took him off death row but left him with a sentence of life without parole, the Associated Press reports. The complicated turn of events happened on the day that St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hinton was supposed to oversee a hearing requested by prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, aimed at vacating Williams’ first-degree murder conviction in the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle. Bell had cited DNA testing unavailable at the time of the crime that found someone else’s DNA — but not that of Williams — on the murder weapon. But newer DNA testing released on Monday found contamination due to improper handling of the weapon several years ago, by a former assistant prosecutor and investigator. The contaminated evidence made it impossible to show that someone else may have been the killer.
Williams agreed to an Alford plea, which is not an admission of guilt but acknowledges that evidence is sufficient to convict him. He’ll be sentenced Thursday — the agreement calls for life in prison without parole. Williams also agreed not to appeal. “Marcellus Williams is an innocent man, and nothing about today’s plea agreement changes that fact,” Williams’ attorney, Tricia Bushnell, said in a statement. She noted that Gayle’s family supports setting aside the death penalty, and the plea “brings a measure of finality” to the family. But the plea doesn’t guarantee Williams won’t be executed. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey is appealing to the Missouri Supreme Court as he seeks to move ahead with Williams' scheduled September 24 execution, arguing that a circuit court doesn’t have authority to overrule the state Supreme Court that set the execution date.
Comments