Missouri Supreme Court orders new hearing in Marcellus Williams case – Missourinet

The Missouri Supreme Court has ordered a new hearing for the Marcellus Williams case, blocking a plea deal that he accepted on Wednesday in an attempt to avoid the death penalty.

After years of claiming innocence, Williams pleaded no contest to the 1998 murder of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia Gayle. The deal instead calls for serving a life-without-parole sentence.

His son, Marcellus Williams, Jr. is still processing the news.

“Some stuff was kind of just thrown at us at the last minute, and I don’t really have a pure thought on it yet, but it’s like, like, I guess it is what it is at this point,” he told KMOX Radio in St. Louis. “You know, I don’t know have no control. I’m just his son.”

Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office plans to present new evidence he says proves Williams deserves death. He said that the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office “wrongfully” asserted that the DNA evidence would prove that Williams did not murder Gayle.

“I am proud of how hard we have fought for the rule of law in this case. Throughout all the legal games, the defense created a false narrative of innocence in order to get a convicted murderer off of death row and fulfill their political ends. Because of the defense’s failure to do their due diligence by testing the evidence that supposedly proved their point, the victims have been forced to relive their horrific loss for the last six years,” said Attorney General Bailey. “The victims in this case deserve better. Missourians deserve better.”

After the high court sided with his office, Bailey said that it is in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheld.

“I am glad the Missouri Supreme Court recognized that. We look forward to putting on evidence in a hearing like we were prepared to do yesterday,” Bailey said.

“We still have concerns about the integrity of the conviction of Marcellus Williams as expressed in our motion that requested this hearing, particularly given that his conviction led to the irrevocable punishment of death,” Christopher King, spokesperson for St. Louis County, said Thursday.

Joe Amrine attended a rally in St. Louis County in support of Williams. Amrine is a Kansas City man set free from death row after facing execution in 2003.

“I spent 30-some days in lockup waiting, facing execution,” he told KMOX. “I lost my hair. I mean, you just can’t imagine sitting there listening to this clock ticking, tick, tick. What really hurts the most, I’m sure with him, same thing, is the things that you know that the public’s going through, that your family’s going through.”

Amrine said that the people at the rally want justice, not just for the victim’s family, but for Williams’ family.

“You know, I mean, I don’t want to see no one get executed, but if, by some miracle, some chance someone had to be executed, I will know that they was afforded all the constitutional protection that’s possible,” he added.

The hearing to review evidence is scheduled for August 28th – less than one month from Williams’ scheduled execution of September 24.

Sean Malone at KMOX Radio contributed to this report.

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