Marcellus Williams, a Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday despite the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison. Williams, 55, was convicted in the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle. Williams was put to death despite questions his attorneys raised over jury selection at his trial and the handling of evidence in the case. His clemency petition focused heavily on how Gayle’s relatives wanted Williams’ sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole, the Associated Press reports. “The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” the petition stated. “Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”
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, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene hours before he was put to death. Last month, Gayle’s relatives gave their blessings to an agreement between the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office and Williams’ attorneys to commute the sentence to life in prison. But acting on an appeal from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, the state Supreme Court nullified the agreement. Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he hoped the execution brings finality to a case that “languished for decades, revictimizing 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. 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.
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