Sep 24, 2024 Story by: Editor
The Missouri Supreme Court and Governor Mike Parson declined on Monday to stop the scheduled execution of death row inmate Imam Marcellus Khalifah Williams, despite some prosecutors believing evidence could prove his innocence, according to various media sources.
“Mr. Williams has exhausted due process and every judicial avenue, including over 15 hearings attempting to argue his innocence and overturn his conviction,” Governor Parson stated.
Williams, 55, was sentenced to death in 2001 for the 1998 stabbing death of Felicia Gayle, a former newspaper reporter found murdered in her home. Since his arrest, Williams has maintained his innocence. His execution was previously postponed in 2015 and 2017 to allow for additional DNA testing on the knife used in the crime after it was revealed that Williams’ DNA was not detected on the weapon.
In January, prosecutors filed a motion to stay Williams’ execution, citing DNA evidence from the murder weapon that could potentially exclude him as the killer. However, last month, this argument faltered when further DNA testing revealed that the knife had been mishandled by investigators, contaminating the evidence.
According to a case summary, attorneys on both sides “received a report indicating the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to an assistant prosecuting attorney and an investigator who had handled the murder weapon without gloves before the trial.”
In its ruling on Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court stated that the new DNA findings “undermined the prosecutor’s claim of actual innocence and fully supports the circuit court’s finding that this evidence neither shows the existence of an alternate perpetrator nor excludes Williams as the murderer.”
Williams is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 6:00 p.m. CST (2300 GMT) on Tuesday.
Following the court’s decision, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim civil rights group in the US, launched a petition urging Governor Parson to halt the execution. The petition has garnered over 35,000 signatures.
“It is unconscionable to allow an execution to proceed when credible evidence of innocence exists,” said CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “Governor Parson has the power to prevent a wrongful execution, and we are calling on everyone to join this urgent action,” Mitchell added, emphasizing, “No one should be put to death when questions of guilt remain, particularly in a case fraught with racial bias and systemic failure.” Source: Anadolu Ajansi
