Court sets execution date for Missouri man despite prosecutors arguing he’s innocent

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date for Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, despite prosecutors’ ongoing attempts to overturn his conviction.

A warrant of execution goes into effect at 6 p.m. on Sept. 24.

Williams has faced execution twice, but they were halted to conduct DNA testing and further investigation.

Results determined that Williams is not linked to evidence from the crime scene, including DNA on the murder weapon, shoe prints, fingerprints or hair.

Williams’ legal team said in a statement that the court’s decision to schedule the execution was “alarming.”

“To date, no court has ever reviewed the DNA evidence proving Mr. Williams was not the individual who wielded the murder weapon and committed this crime,” said Tricia Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project. “Yet, the State successfully sought an execution date, highlighting the system’s emphasis on finality over innocence. That is not justice.”

Hours before his Aug. 22, 2017, scheduled execution, former Gov. Eric Greitens enacted a stay and appointed a board of inquiry to look into his case.

Last June, Gov. Mike Parson lifted the stay and dissolved the board.

“We could stall and delay for another six years, deferring justice, leaving a victim’s family in limbo, and solving nothing,” Parson said in a statement then. “This administration won’t do that. Withdrawing the order allows the process to proceed within the judicial system, and, once the due process of law has been exhausted, everyone will receive certainty.”

Williams’ legal team filed a lawsuit in August arguing that Parson did not have authority to lift the stay without receiving a recommendation from the board.

Oral arguments before the Missouri Supreme Court were heard in April.

The court decided Tuesday that governors have “absolute discretion to grant clemency relief” and that the “Governor was free to rescind it at his discretion.”

Bushnell said Williams’ legal team was disappointed by the court’s decision, but will continue to push on a separate case filed by the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office.

“This injustice can still be righted,” she said in a statement.

Using a law that allows prosecutors to intervene in wrongful convictions, Prosecutor Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate Williams’ conviction in January. He emphasized that physical evidence was not a match to Williams. He also identified issues related to the fairness of Williams’ trial and noted that Williams’ defense attorney had not looked into the credibility of two key witnesses who had been incentivized by reward money.

A hearing in that case has not yet been scheduled, according to court records. The matter remains pending, Christopher King, with the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

The court announced the execution date a few hours later after handing down their ruling regarding the governor’s powers.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Williams said in a call from Potosi Correctional Center, where Missouri death row prisoners are incarcerated, that per protocol for those with an execution date, he had been moved to solitary confinement.

He said he was trying to figure out how the court chose to ignore Bell’s motion that speaks to his innocence.

Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said it is sad to live in a world where the state is willing to kill Williams.

“We are going to advocate and fight for Khaliifah,” she said.

This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 3:49 PM.

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

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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.