Marcellus Williams: Missouri executes ‘innocent’ man despite push to free him, advocates say

globalnews.ca:

Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old Missouri man convicted of killing a former reporter in 1998, was executed Tuesday evening by lethal injection despite objections from prosecutors, defence lawyers and the victim’s family.

Advocates aggressively pushed for Williams’ execution to be paused in the days leading up to his death, but the U.S. Supreme Court, Missouri Supreme Court and Missouri governor refused to grant a stay. Early this year, St. Louis’ top prosecutor filed a motion to overturn Williams’ conviction, based on new DNA evidence and allegations of evidence mishandling and racial discrimination in the jury selection process. Williams’ lawyers have further argued that two key witnesses who testified against the 55-year-old were bribed.

The push to free Williams continued even on the day of his execution. Dozens of activists hand-delivered pages upon pages of signatures, asking Republican Gov. Mike Parson to pause the execution, according to video shared by the WE project.

People deliver more than a million petitions asking for a stay of execution for Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams to the Missouri Governor’s office at the State Capitol following a rally in the rotunda today. pic.twitter.com/TBXGvxFVOF

— The WE project (@theWEprojectMO) <a href=«https://twitter.com/theWEprojectMO/status/1838660535199359267?ref_src=» https:>September 24, 2024

Despite these efforts, Williams was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday around 6 p.m. local time. He had served as his prison’s imam and dedicated his time to poetry. His last written statement was “All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation!!!”

Williams’ son and two lawyers watched from another room. No one was present on behalf of the victim’s family, who expressed in the