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Friend,
The State of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams last night. Mr. Williams had been convicted of murder and spent over two decades in prison, awaiting his death sentence.
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In 2015, Missouri's Supreme Court stopped his execution and ordered a special investigation. The judges weren't sure Mr. Williams should be killed. But the pause didn't last long, and he was rescheduled for execution in 2017.
In 2017, Governor Eric Greitens put another pause on Mr. Williams' sentence hours before he was supposed to be killed. Greitens ordered a full inquiry into Mr. Williams' case. Greitens wasn't sure Mr. Williams should be killed.
That board of inquiry never came to a conclusion. Apparently the members of that board weren't so sure either.
In 2023, Governor Mike Parson dissolved that board and rescheduled Mr. Williams' execution.
Several months ago, the St. Louis County Prosecutor reviewed the evidence used against Mr. Williams and believed he was innocent. He filed suit under Missouri's new law to free Mr. Williams. DNA testing showed that Mr. Williams' DNA was not on the murder weapon, but someone else's DNA was.
Mr. Williams' case was one where a lot of folks just weren't sure. No physical evidence tied him to the crime scene. A jailhouse informant came forward for award money with a few different stories about Mr. Williams being the murderer. Mr. Williams' girlfriend implicated him only after facing her own legal trouble, and at least one witness indicated that the girlfriend may have been the murderer. There were a lot of questions surrounding his case.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey didn't care. He wanted Mr. Williams executed BEFORE the DNA evidence could be heard in court. The judge disagreed with him. Bailey took his demand all the way to Missouri's Supreme Court, where he lost. Mr. Williams would have a hearing.
Shortly before that hearing, the DNA test came back with a match: Two of the investigators on the original prosecution team had handled the murder weapon outside of the evidence bag.
At the innocence hearing, Mr. Williams had the burden to prove his innocence. Now, with tampered evidence, he couldn't. If he could have shown that the prosecution team had maliciously destroyed evidence, he likely would have been freed. But because he could only prove neglect, his case crumbled.
The prosecutor admitted fault and, with the permission of the victim's family, offered Mr. Williams a deal where he would contest his guilt and remain in prison for life rather than face the death penalty. He eventually agreed. But Attorney General Andrew Bailey did not. He appealed, and he won. Barring unlikely action from the courts or a commutation from the Governor, Mr. Williams would be executed. And he was, last night at 6 PM.
Why?
Why when a prosecutor and the victim's family didn't want him to be executed? Why when so many folks were unsure of Mr. Williams' guilt? What purpose did his execution serve?
I don't know. Mr. Williams' case wasn't clear cut, but the standard for killing a man should be higher than "I'm not sure."
Still, Mr. Williams' case falls into a pattern of others that were much clearer. Ricky Kidd. Jonathan Irons. Kevin Strickland.
Just this year, Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought to keep Sandra Hemme in prison after she served 43 years for a crime she didn't commit. He did the same with Christopher Dunn, a man who spent 34 years in prison, and who a judge found to be innocent four years ago even though the judge didn't have the power to let him out of prison; he's one of the major reasons why we have the new innocence law.
Folks in our government have prioritized their power over everything else. Justice doesn't matter. Doing what's right doesn't matter. Even wasting our money doesn't matter. It's about the ability to exploit those who have less. It's about power.
That's what I talked about last night at an event 15 minutes away from where Mr. Williams was executed.
The folks leading our government have proven they don't belong anywhere near the power that comes with their offices. And it's why I will start Missouri's first fully staffed Civil Rights Division in the history of our state.
It's time we had an Attorney General who protects the People of Missouri from abusive government.
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Elad Gross for Missouri
PO Box 21621
St. Louis, MO 63109
United States