By Innocence Project
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The tide is turning for Marcellus Williams, who for more than 20 years has lived under a death sentence for a crime he did not commit. His innocence, which he has always asserted, is supported by DNA evidence.
Today, we are grateful that St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell filed a motion in St. Louis County Circuit Court to vacate Marcellus’s murder conviction, providing a long-awaited avenue for the evidence of Marcellus’s innocence to finally be heard.
In 2000, Marcellus was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, and burglary in the case of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter [Lisha Gayle] who had been stabbed to death in her own home. The unreliable testimony of two incentivized witnesses led to his conviction, even though Marcellus was not the source of the bloody footprints found at the scene nor the unknown hairs that were left behind.
In 2016, Marcellus was also excluded as the source of the DNA found on the murder weapon, leading to then-Gov. Greitens granting a stay of execution in 2017. But the courts have refused to review the exculpatory evidence that would prove his innocence, and last summer Missouri Gov. Mike Parson improperly dissolved the Board of Inquiry that was reviewing the evidence in Marcellus’s case.
Prosecutor Wesley Bell is seeking to vacate Marcellus’s murder conviction altogether — but meanwhile, the Attorney General can still fight to keep his conviction and seek an execution date. We’re looking to spread the story of Marcellus’s case and raise public awareness about his innocence before it’s too late.
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