55-year-old Marcellus Williams was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 24 in the Bonne Terre state prison in Missouri. The inmate was convicted in 2001 for the 1998 murder of reporter Felicia Gayle, who was found stabbed to death in her home with a kitchen knife protruding from her neck. Since his arrest, Williams has maintained his innocence, which was backed by no forensic evidence which tied him to the case. Testing had shown that the murder weapon had been mishandled by the prosecutor’s office, leading to multiple DNA samples on the knife, which made it difficult to use as evidence against the accused. Furthermore, a bloodied shoeprint and a hair strand found at the scene of the crime did not match those of Williams’, however the accused had sold a laptop which belonged to Gayle. He claimed that he had acquired the device from his then-girlfriend who had testified against Williams along with his cellmate, who both stated that he had admitted to the crime. Williams’ lawyers further argued that they were bribed with $10,000. After this, his counsel had tried to negotiate an Alford Plea, which meant that they were not admitting to the crime but acknowledging that there was enough evidence for a conviction. This would have changed his death sentence to life without parole. Gayle’s relatives consented to this saying that they did not want an execution and they too had doubts about his guilt. The supreme court invalidated the request, leaving Williams’ without many options. The faithful muslim’s last words were “all praise be to allah in every situation!” as seen by his two sons and his lawyer who watched the passing from the viewing room.
Williams’ death has sparked questions over whether race influences if an inmate goes to death row or not. After his execution the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) shared through X that “Missouri lynched another innocent black man,” and that “when DNA proves innocence, capital punishment is not justice- it’s murder.” According to The Innocence Project, at least 4 percent of those sentenced to death are guiltless and the majority of people who have been released are either black or latinx. Official misconduct has been shown in 3/4ths of the cases of black people who have been released in comparison to the 60 percent of caucasian exonerees. Discrimination in white-victim cases have also been found in the majority of formal studies, however, in 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that these reports alone cannot be used as proof of racism in a defendant’s case.
Amnesty International has shared that the death penalty violates the right to life and that it is a cruel and a degrading punishment. Fortunately for them, 2/3rds of the world’s countries have abolished execution or no longer use it as a form of punishment, yet as stated by Statista, 55% of US citizens who took part in the survey said that the death penalty is morally acceptable.
Williams’ death left an impact on people around the world, and made individuals including the victim’s family question his guilt and whether he truly deserved to die.
Written by Suriya Rampersad
