By Congresswoman Cori Bush
Photos: Congresswoman Cori Bush\YouTube Screenshots
Washington D.C. (Sept. 20, 2024) —Today, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) delivered a speech on the House floor urging Missouri Governor Mike Parson to immediately halt the execution of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, an innocent man scheduled to be executed by the state of Missouri next Tuesday, September 24.
On Wednesday, Congresswoman Bush sent a letter to Governor Parson urging him to grant clemency and save Marcellus Williams’ life.
Watch HERE or read her full remarks, as prepared for delivery, below.
“St. Louis and I rise today to say that state-sanctioned violence has no place in a humane society.
Next Tuesday, Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams is scheduled to be executed for a crime he didn’t commit. Despite credible evidence of Williams’ innocence and mass scrutiny over the fairness of his trial, Missouri Governor Mike Parson and the courts have yet to stop an innocent man from being executed.
Within the last four decades, four individuals on death row have been exonerated in Missouri. Since 1973, at least 200 people have been exonerated from death row in the U.S. A 2014 study estimated that at least 4% of those sentenced to death are innocent—a majority of whom are Black and brown. I am urging Governor Parson not to let another innocent man be murdered at the hands of the state. He must heed our call.
As a proud cosponsor of the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, Congress must also act. Let’s end this racist, this flawed, and inhumane practice once and for all.
Save the life of this innocent man.”
Congresswoman Cori Bush sits on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, serves as the Ranking Member of Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, and proudly represents St. Louis as a politivist in the halls of the United States Congress.
