Missouri judge holds off changing Marcellus Williams’ death sentence after AG intervenes

The case of a Missouri man trying to get off of death row hit roadblocks this week when two pivotal hearings didn’t go as planned.

Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams had planned to try to prove his innocence during an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Wednesday. But instead he agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors.

The arrangement included re-sentencing him to life without parole instead of the death penalty.

But the deal fell apart on Thursday after the Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed it, and the Missouri Supreme Court ruled to halt the re-sentencing hearing.

The series of events illustrates an increasingly complicated legal battle unfolding in Missouri with a tight deadline — Williams faces a Sept. 24 execution date.

The 55-year-old was convicted in the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle in St. Louis County and given a death sentence.

An uphill legal battle

In January, the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion to vacate Williams’ conviction, saying no physical evidence tied him to Gayle’s death. DNA on the murder weapon excluded Williams.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposes Williams’ case. The office under Attorney General Andrew Bailey has been particularly hostile toward innocence claims and this summer, kept three people in prison after they were deemed wrongfully convicted.

Evidence in Williams’ case was to be presented Wednesday before St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton. Many viewed the hearing as Williams’ best shot at avoiding lethal injection next month.

DNA results from the murder weapon have always showed Williams was not a match.

But in an unexpected turn of events, St. Louis County prosecutors backpedaled on the strength of DNA evidence supporting Williams’ innocence. Matthew Jacober, an attorney for the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office, said a new round of testing showed two investigators were likely contributors to DNA on the knife, meaning the evidence had been contaminated. DNA had likely been removed and added, according to Jacober.

Prosecutors announced Williams had agreed to plead no contest in what is known as an Alford plea. The deal included re-sentencing him to life without parole instead of facing the death penalty.

Judge Hilton accepted the agreement, called a consent judgment, Wednesday and scheduled re-sentencing for Thursday morning.

Shortly after, the attorney general’s office filed a writ opposing the deal. It argued that Hilton did not have authority to accept the agreement because the judge had not heard evidence to set aside Williams’ original conviction.

Late Wednesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered Hilton to set aside the consent judgment containing the plea deal.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an attorney with the Midwest Innocence Project which represents Williams, said the attorney general fought to invalidate the agreement.

“It is impossible to understand who this decision serves or what justice it provides,” she said in a statement. “This decision directly contradicts the will of a duly elected prosecutor and the community he represents and the wishes of a family who has already lost so much. That is not justice.”

The family of Gayle, the murder victim, wants the case to be finalized and does not support going through with Williams’ execution.

During a brief hearing Thursday morning, Hilton set aside the agreement and ordered an evidentiary hearing for Aug. 28, similar to what had been scheduled for Wednesday before the plea deal.

“It is in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheld – every time, without fail,” Attorney General Bailey said in a statement. “I am glad the Missouri Supreme Court recognized that. We look forward to putting on evidence in a hearing like we were prepared to do yesterday.”

The St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office said it still has concerns about the integrity of Williams’ conviction.

Bushnell said Williams’ legal team looks forward to presenting their case at the evidentiary hearing next week. She has also maintained Williams’ innocence and said they will continue to pursue new evidence to prove their case.