{"id":12514,"date":"2024-06-12T20:10:44","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=12514"},"modified":"2024-06-12T20:10:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:10:44","slug":"court-sets-execution-date-for-a-man-who-even-prosecutors-say-is-innocent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=12514","title":{"rendered":"Court sets execution date for a man who even prosecutors say is innocent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcellus Williams has been sentenced to death, despite prosecutors saying he is innocent<\/h2>\n

A man who has been sentenced to death in Missouri is not guilty of the crimes he is being sentenced for, prosecutors have said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcellus Williams has now had his\u00a0execution<\/a> date set, despite the people who are prosecuting him insisting that he is innocent.<\/p>\n

Williams was originally convicted in 1998, and was accused of breaking into the home of social worker Lisha Gayle.<\/p>\n

At the time, prosecutors alleged that Williams heard that the shower was running, found a butcher’s knife, and stabbed Gayle 43 times when she emerged from the bathroom, according to a report from KSDK.<\/p>\n

Williams has always maintained his innocence following his conviction.<\/p>\n

The 55-year-old has previously had two separate executions scheduled, but they were halted on both occasions. This was to allow the court to further investigate the matter, including examining\u00a0DNA<\/a>\u00a0evidence.<\/p>\n

The conclusion of the investigation, which included DNA samples from the murder weapon, indicated that he did not commit the\u00a0crime<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Marcellus<\/div>\n

Marcellus Williams has maintained his innocence. (Marcellus Williams’ Legal Team via Kansas City Star)<\/cite><\/div>\n

But despite this new evidence emerging following the investigation,\u00a0Republican governor<\/a>\u00a0of Missouri Mike Parson has refused to remove the death sentence – which is now set for September 24, 2024 at 6pm.<\/p>\n

This means if the execution goes ahead, Williams could be killed by the state for a crime he did not commit.<\/p>\n

Governor Parson lifted a stay of execution last June, saying that another six-year stay of execution would leave the family of the victim in ‘limbo’.<\/p>\n

The decision saw Parson ignore findings from the\u00a0report<\/a>, which indicated that Williams should never have been convicted in the first place.<\/p>\n

Even during his\u00a0trial<\/a>, no physical evidence was presented connecting Williams to the crime at the time.<\/p>\n

A court filing from 2024 prosecuting attorney from St. Louis Count Wesley Bell said Williams could not be the killer.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Missouri<\/div>\n

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has been accused of ignoring new evidence. (Michael B. Thomas\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The filing detailed how three separate DNA experts had ‘independently concluded that Mr. Williams is excluded as the source of the male DNA on the handle of the murder weapon’.<\/p>\n

Critics of the decision have claimed that Missouri republicans including the state’s attorney general are ignoring evidence which would exonerate Williams, and are going to kill an innocent man.<\/p>\n

Tricia Bushnell, the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project told The Kansas City Star: \u201cTo date, no court has ever reviewed the DNA evidence proving Mr. Williams was not the individual who wielded the murder weapon and committed this crime,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, the State successfully sought an execution date, highlighting the system\u2019s emphasis on finality over innocence. That is not justice.”<\/p>\n

The case continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marcellus Williams has been sentenced to death, despite prosecutors saying he is innocent A man…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":66,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}