Marcellus Williams. Image Courtesy of The Innocence Project.
Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old Black man, is currently facing the death sentence in Missouri despite no physical evidence connecting him to the crime. He was convicted of first degree murder, robbery and burglary of a white American journalist, Felicia Gayle. Now, he has been serving time in prison since 2001 and is expected to be executed tomorrow at 6 p.m. central time.
Felicia Gayle died in St. Louis, Missouri after being stabbed 43 times in her home. The forensic evidence found at the scene included fingerprints, footprints and hair, none of it connecting to Marcellus Williams. Additionally, in 2016, DNA testing, appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court, showed that the source of male DNA on the murder weapon, Gayle's kitchen knife, did not belong to Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams’ conviction relies solely on the unreliable testimonies of two incentivized witnesses, Henry Cole and Laura Asaro, both of whom were promised leniency in their own unrelated cases and reward money. Their statements were not only inconsistent with each other but also their prior statements and the evidence found at the crime scene. Neither one revealed any information that wasn't disclosed to the public.
Incentivized informants are one of the biggest contributing factors to wrongful convictions in Missouri. According to the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing, “11 of the 54 individuals exonerated in Missouri were convicted with the use of informant testimony”.
Marcellus has always maintained his innocence throughout the years, but this isn't the first time he's faced imminent execution. In 2017, the DNA results were sent to the Missouri Supreme Court but was left unconsidered, resulting in a scheduled execution for Aug. 22, 2017. Hours before his execution, Williams had received a stay of execution by the former governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens, due to the DNA results.
Greitens created a Board of Inquiry to investigate the case. While they were reviewing the investigation, current governor, Mike Parson, dissolved the board without warning. On June 4, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court rescheduled his execution for Sept. 24, 2024.
Statistically, Black people are more likely to be a victim of capital punishment. “Two-thirds of people executed in the 1930s were Black, and the trend continued. African Americans’ share of the South’s population fell to just 22% by 1950, but 75% of people executed in the South were Black,” according to the Equal Justice Initiative, a private nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced or abused in state jails and prisons. Stephen B. Bright, a white American lawyer, has even written that, "The death penalty is a direct descendant of lynching and other forms of racial violence... in America."
The city of Salisbury has its own history in regards to racial violence. The lynchings of three Black men took place between the years 1898 and 1931. Garfield King, an 18-year-old Black man, was lynched by a white mob at the Wicomico County Jail on May 26, 1898. King had shot a white man, claiming the act was self-defense, but never had the opportunity of a trial. A white mob of over 100 people broke into the jail, dragged him out, hanged him and fired dozens of bullets into his body.
Matthew Williams, a 23-year-old Black man, was hanged on Dec. 4, 1931. He was in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds after an exchange of gunfire with his white employer when a white mob dragged him from his hospital bed, beat him and stabbed him with an icepick. He was hanged from a tree in front of the Wicomico Courthouse.
On Dec. 6, 1931, just two days after Williams' death, a second Black man was found deceased on the corner of College Avenue and Railroad Street. Reports at the time stated it was the second victim of the same white mob that lynched Williams. The victim's name is still unknown. Afterwards, Black citizens were told not to leave their house and Salisbury was dubbed Maryland's "Lynch Town."
The NAACP has requested the governor of Missouri to stop the execution of Mr. Williams, citing the anti-Black history of capital punishment. "The NAACP has long been opposed to the death penalty because it is cruel, inhumane, and an unnecessary treatment, which has been historically applied in a racial disparate manner," the organization stated. "Killing Mr. Williams, a Black man who was wrongfully convicted of killing a white woman, would amount to a horrible miscarriage of justice and a perpetuation of the worst of Missouri's past."
The NAACP allows protestors to sign a letter in its name in support of halting the execution of Marcellus Williams. Those interested can also go to the Innocence Project website and call Governor Parson of Missouri at (417)-373-3400, using the call script they've provided.
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By JOSHUA WEEKS
Staff Writer
*Joshua Weeks is the historian of Salisbury University's NAACP Chapter
Featured Image Courtesy of The Innocence Project
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