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Missouri Supreme Court blocks Death Row Inmate’s Plea Deal


The Missouri Supreme Court has blocked an agreement death row inmate Marcellus Williams made with prosecutors that would have halted his scheduled execution. The court instead ordered a hearing to proceed on Williams’ claim of innocence.

The ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court came late on Wednesday and only hours after a circuit judge approved a plan allowing Williams to enter an Alford plea—a legal move that allows him to assert his innocence while acknowledging that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict him.

Williams, 55, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of social worker Lisha Gayle in suburban St. Louis. Prosecutors at Williams’ trial said he broke into Gayle’s home on August 11, 1998, and found a large butcher knife and stabbed her 43 times. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were also stolen. Williams has always maintained his innocence.

Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated two decades ago after spending years on death row, speaks at a rally to support Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in Clayton, Missouri. Missouri’s…
Joseph Amrine, who was exonerated two decades ago after spending years on death row, speaks at a rally to support Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in Clayton, Missouri. Missouri’s Supreme Court blocked an agreement Williams made with prosecutors that would have halted his scheduled execution.

AP Photo/Jim Salter

A DNA test report released earlier this week showed that the murder weapon had been mishandling decades ago by a former assistant prosecutor and a former investigator, thus contaminating the evidence. The report led St. Louis County prosecutors to reach the agreement with Williams.

“The murder weapon was handled without proper procedures in place,” Matthew Jacober, a lawyer for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Tricia Bushnell, Williams’ attorney, said in a statement after the deal was announced that “Marcellus Williams is an innocent man, and nothing about today’s plea agreement changes that fact.”

The AP reported Bushnell said Gayle’s family supports setting aside the death penalty and that the plea “brings a measure of finality” to the family.

However, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey quickly appealed Wednesday’s agreement, which had been approved by St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hinton. Bailey argued that a circuit court doesn’t have the authority to overrule a capital murder sentence.

The AP reported that the Missouri Supreme Court sided with Bailey and ordered Hilton to “set aside said consent order and judgment and file notice with this Court that you will take action…including holding the evidentiary hearing previously scheduled and anticipated.”

“Too often, people forget about all of the evidence that was used to convict the defendant—the evidence the jury relied on—and the victims,” Bailey said in a statement released on Thursday. “The public has been deceived every step of the way. That is why the truth of this matter must get out.”

On Thursday, Hilton scheduled the new evidentiary hearing for August 28.


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