Ex-prosecutor touched knife in MO death penalty case. Could it affect looming execution?

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A former assistant prosecutor admitted on the stand that he touched a murder weapon repeatedly without gloves prior to the trial that ended in Marcellus Williams’ death sentence.

The evidence, which lawyers for Williams now consider contaminated, represented the “final blow” in a series of violations by the state, attorney Jonathan Potts told St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton during a daylong hearing Wednesday.

Williams is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24.

His legal team, including attorneys with the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office, filed a motion in January to have his conviction overturned and the death penalty reversed, based on a new Missouri law allowing prosecutors to challenge past convictions. Their case culminated in the evidentiary hearing Wednesday as experts raised concerns about the way DNA evidence was handled, the veracity of witnesses and alleged infringements on Williams’ rights in his initial trial.

Williams watched the proceedings in the courtroom.

There is no forensic evidence tying him to the fatal stabbing of Felicia Gayle in August 1998. Gayle’s husband, Daniel Picus, also attended the hearing Wednesday, but declined to comment. Court documents said Gayle’s family supports life without parole and does not want the death penalty to be carried out.

Williams has twice faced execution dates, which were halted for further investigation and DNA testing.

Former prosecutor takes stand

The recent round of testing identified DNA from Keith Larner on the knife used to kill Gayle. He was an assistant prosecutor on Williams’ 2001 trial.

When he took the stand Wednesday, he appeared combative to the line of questioning and, at times, made bombastic assertions.

“I touched the knife at some point before the trial,” said Larner, who was with the prosecutor’s office from 1982 to 2014.

“Without gloves?” Potts asked.

“Yes,” Larner said.

He went on to list the five times he recalled touching the knife, including once to affix an exhibit sticker to it and four times while showing it to witnesses. He said he believed it was not a problem to handle the knife because it had been checked for fingerprints, and he was told that the killer was allegedly wearing gloves.

“I knew that knife was irrelevant,” Larner said.

During the trial, Larner said, the defense didn’t say anything when he handled the knife.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office argued that at the time, touch DNA technology was still in its early stages of use and understanding.

Potts questioned Larner on other issues, including two key witnesses who pointed to Williams as Gayle’s killer. Both were known to have used drugs. An expert testified that the two witnesses, who are now dead, were incentivized by reward money. Some of their statements conflicted with each other or with the evidence.

But Larner called them the “two strongest witnesses ever” and also said one of them did not know about the reward money before coming forward.

He became defensive when Potts asked if he had excluded potential jurors based on their race. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected those claims in previous appeals.

“They said my strikes were lawful,” he said.

But he went on to testify that he rejected one prospective juror because he thought he looked like Williams. They looked like brothers — familial brothers, not Black brothers, Larner tried to clarify.

Closing arguments, next steps

“This case is about contamination,” Matthew Jacober, an attorney for the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office who argued on behalf of Williams, told Judge Hilton as the hearing concluded.

Evidence, including a fingerprint, had also been destroyed before it could be tested.

The prosecutor’s office has conceded there were constitutional errors in the mishandling of evidence, Jacober said.

Michael Spillane, a lawyer with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which opposes Williams’ claims, said, “This case is about the rule of law.”

Of the destruction of evidence, he said, “There is no bad faith here.”

He also defended Larner, saying he “did everything right.”

Potts said Williams’ legal team has welcomed every round of DNA testing. They could not fathom the level of disregard and disrespect for the rule of law, he said.

“Last week’s test results were infuriating,” he said.

He went on to say that there were “flagrant” violations of protocols and that Larner appeared “remarkably unrepentant.”

Of the exclusion of several potential Black jurors, Potts said, “We all know what’s going on.”

He concluded by saying a recent Missouri statute allowing prosecutors to intervene in cases of possible wrongful convictions presents an opportunity for the justice system to recognize mistakes and restore the community’s faith in the system.

The law created a unique dynamic, aligning prosecutors with defendants and their attorneys. The attorney general’s office has opposed all of the cases brought under the statute since it passed in 2021.

Earlier Wednesday, Hilton said the statute created “uncharted waters.” Williams’ conviction is the first death penalty case to be tested under the new law. His life now rests in Hilton’s hands. As the execution date nears, Hilton will have to rule on whether Williams’ conviction should stand or be vacated.