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Marcellus Williams nearly escaped execution through a consent decree agreed to by attorneys in his case on Aug. 21. Then the state Supreme Court blocked the decree and ordered a hearing on the evidence in his case. He is set to be executed on Sept. 24.
As Missouri Lawyers Media previously reported, Williams was sentenced to death in 2001 for the murder of Felicia Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was killed in her home during a burglary in 1998.
Williams has maintained his innocence and St. Louis Prosecutor Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate his charges when DNA evidence ruled him out as a suspect.
At the Aug. 21 hearing, Williams agreed to enter an Alford plea and was expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the hearing, instead of reviewing the evidence, attorneys met for hours behind closed doors to reach an agreement that would spare Williams’ life.
A spokesperson for Bell’s office said they accepted the consent judgment on the condition that Williams’ death sentence be vacated.
“Under this agreement and in accordance with Missouri law, we anticipate Williams will be sentenced by the court to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” the spokesperson told Missouri Lawyers Media following the hearing. “Given that the Missouri Attorney General’s Office has indicated it will appeal this disposition, we will offer no further comment at this time.”
Attorney General Bailey immediately appealed the decision and, hours after the agreement was struck, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered a new hearing to evaluate Williams’ innocence claim, according to the Associated Press.
“A new DNA test report released this week showed that handling of the murder weapon decades ago by a former assistant prosecutor and a former investigator contaminated the evidence so much that it was of no value to Williams’ case,” AP reported. “That finding prompted prosecutors to reach the agreement with Williams that Hilton signed off on.”
In an emailed statement, the spokesperson from Bell’s office, Christopher King, wrote: “We have seen false claims made about the victim’s family’s response to the consent judgment entered today. The following quote is from a draft of the consent judgment:
‘The Court finds that, following discussions between a representative of the victim’s family and both the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office regarding this Consent Judgment, the Court held a telephonic conference in chambers with that representative on August 21, 2024, wherein the representative expressed to the Court the family’s desire that the death penalty not be carried out in this case, as well as the family’s desire for finality.’”
The Midwest Innocence Project, which represents Williams, said in a statement that Bailey failed to take the family’s wishes into consideration when he filed his writ. The family of Felicia Gayle does not support the death penalty, it said.
“Yet in spite of this, the Attorney General has fought to invalidate that agreement. It is impossible to understand who this decision serves or what justice it provides,” Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Williams’ attorney, said in a statement. “This decision directly contradicts the will of a duly elected prosecutor and the community he represents and the wishes of a family who has already lost so much. That is not justice.”
The new hearing on Williams’ innocence claim is scheduled for Aug. 28
“We still have concerns about the integrity of the conviction of Marcellus Williams as expressed in our motion that requested this hearing, particularly given that his conviction led to the irrevocable punishment of death,” King added.