Prosecutors ask MO Supreme Court not to set execution date during innocence investigation

Prosecutors in St. Louis County have asked the Missouri Supreme Court to refrain from setting an execution date for Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, whose DNA was not a match on the murder weapon.

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s conviction and integrity review unit sent a letter last week to the court asking for a delay of six months while the office investigates Williams’ innocence claim.

The Jan. 2 letter, publicly disclosed by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on Friday, said prosecutors “had concerns about this particular conviction.” The law firm Lathrop, GPM LLP and the St. Louis County Police Department are providing assistance on the case “to determine whether this conviction is sound before the Supreme Court of Missouri takes any irreversible steps.”

Prosecutors could intervene in Williams’ case through a Missouri law passed in 2021 that allows them to file motions in wrongful convictions.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, which is representing Williams, said he has spent 24 years on death row.

“We are thankful for the prosecutor’s work and consideration and hope the Court heeds this request so that Mr. Williams can live to see the results,” Bushnell said in a statement. “We know that any full and complete process that considers all the evidence will lead to the inevitable conclusion - that Mr. Williams is innocent and his conviction must be overturned.”

Williams, 55, was found guilty in the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, who had been a reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The jury recommended a death sentence.

Williams faced his first execution date in 2015, but the state Supreme Court paused it to conduct DNA testing that was not available at the time of the homicide. Then former Gov. Eric Greitens halted his 2017 execution date after testing showed Williams was not a match with the DNA found on the knife used in Gayle’s slaying.

A board made up of retired judges began investigating Williams’ case.

But in June, Gov. Mike Parson lifted the stay and dissolved the board with little explanation. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office immediately requested the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date.

Williams’ legal team filed a lawsuit in late August contending that going forward with an execution would violate his constitutional rights to due process. That case is ongoing in the Circuit Court of Cole County.

This story was originally published January 12, 2024 at 9:22 AM.

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4312

Katie Moore was an enterprise and accountability reporter for The Star. She covered justice issues, including policing, prison conditions and the death penalty. She is a University of Kansas graduate and began her career as a reporter in 2015 in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.