What you should know about the execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri
Marcellus Williams is to be killed by lethal injection. He fatally injured former reporter Lisha Gayle in her home near St. Louis in 1998. He has always maintained his innocence.
Missouri executes Marcellus Williams, who was convicted of murder in 1998
Marcellus Williams was convicted of the murder of Lisha Gayle. Despite concerns from the victim’s family and a prosecutor, he is set to be executed.
Marcellus Williams is to be executed in Missouri on Tuesday. He brutally stabbed a former newspaper reporter to death in her home in a suburb of St. Louis.
If the execution goes ahead, Williams will be the third inmate executed in Missouri this year and the 15th or 16th nationwide, depending on whether he is declared dead before or after Travis James Mullis, another inmate scheduled for execution the same day in Texas. Two more consecutive executions are expected Thursday in Alabama and Oklahoma.
Williams, 55, was convicted of the Aug. 11, 1998, murder of Lisha Gayle. The former St. Louis Post-Dispatch police reporter was described as a “unique friend” who looked for the good in people.
Williams has always maintained his innocence, a prosecutor in the case has argued that the execution should be canceled, and there is no DNA evidence linking Williams to the crime scene. Nevertheless, Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Monday rejected a final attempt to stop the execution. In a statement, he said that “no jury or court, at the trial, appellate or Supreme Court levels, has ever found Mr. Williams’ claims of innocence to be valid.”
“Death penalty cases are some of the most difficult issues we face in the governor’s office, but when it comes down to it, I abide by the law and trust in the integrity of our justice system,” he said.
Here you can find out everything you need to know about the case and the execution of Williams.
When is Marcellus Williams scheduled to be executed by lethal injection?
Williams is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Bonne Terre State Prison after 6 p.m. Tuesday. The execution will be carried out by a city in Francois County, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis.
This method of death is the most common in the country. Inmates sentenced to death in this state can choose to die by lethal injection or by poison gas.
Williams will be given a 5-gram dose of pentobarbital under Missouri’s lethal injection protocol.
The window to the execution chamber in Missouri is a one-way window, meaning witnesses can see the inmates, but the inmates cannot see who is watching them.
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Why was Marcellus Williams convicted?
Gayle, 42, was taking a shower that morning when someone broke into her home on a private, gated street. He entered the house through the front door after breaking a small window pane, reaching in and unlocking the front door.
Wearing a long purple T-shirt, Gayle left the second floor bathroom and walked down the stairs when she encountered the killer on the landing. At one point, she was stabbed 43 times with a kitchen knife taken from the house.
Later that night, Gayle’s husband found his wife’s body in the couple’s entryway and called 911.
Evidence police collected included bloody shoe prints and fingerprints, a knife sheath and the suspect’s hair collected from Gayle’s shirt, hands and the floor. Gayle’s purse and jacket were missing from the house, as was her husband’s laptop.
Williams was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001.
Williams’ execution has been stopped twice before
Williams’ execution was already scheduled for January 2015 and August 2017.
Both lethal injections were paused to allow for further DNA testing and investigation. The final stay of execution was ordered by then-Governor Eric Greiten, who appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the case.
But in the summer of 2023, newly sworn-in Governor Mike Parson dissolved the panel and lifted the stay. The court, Parsons said, would decide Williams’ fate, and the Missouri Supreme Court issued a third execution warrant for Williams.
What did Williams’ defense argue?
On August 21, District Attorney Wesley Bell’s office and Williams’ attorneys reached an agreement that would allow Williams to enter a new, unconditional guilty plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence without parole. The victim’s husband, Daniel Picus, signed the guilty plea.
Although Bell moved to overturn Williams’ murder conviction, state Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that it should stand and ordered St. Louis County District Judge Bruce Hilton to hold an evidentiary hearing on the matter. He granted the motion.
During an evidentiary hearing on August 28, the retired prosecutor who handled the case admitted that evidence was mishandled in the 1998 trial that could have led to Williams’ exoneration.
But on September 12, Hilton declined to overturn Williams’ conviction and sentence, despite questions about DNA evidence on the knife used in the attack. On appeal, his defense presented evidence that DNA taken from the knife revealed an unknown male profile and did not match Williams.
“There is no basis for a court to find Williams innocent, and no court has made such a finding,” wrote St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton. “Williams is guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death.”
How many people are on death row in Missouri?
On Monday, Williams was one of 10 people on death row in Missouri. They are all men between the ages of 44 and 68.
As of Tuesday, two men have been executed in the state this year. The most recent execution took place on June 11. The state executed David Hosier, who shot Angela Gilpin, his former lover and married mother of two, in 2009.
A fourth execution is also scheduled for this year for Christopher Leroy Collings. He was convicted in 2007 of the rape and murder of nine-year-old Rowan Ford. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 3.
If Williams is executed, it would be the 97th time the state has executed a human being.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @nataliealund.
