Missouri Executes Marcellus Williams Despite Conviction Doubts and Calls for Clemency

Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old man, was executed by lethal injection in Missouri on a day after both the state's governor and highest court rejected his last-ditch appeals to avoid execution. Williams was convicted in 2003 of killing Lisha Gayle in 1998. The victim's relatives had petitioned for Williams' sentence to be commuted to life in prison, but their wishes were ignored. Williams' lawyers had raised questions about jury selection, and some articles suggest that there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene or murder weapon. The prosecutor had also sought to commute the death sentence to life in prison. Williams' case was championed by the Innocence Project and the Midwest Innocent Project, with some lawyers claiming that he may have been innocent.