St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Concedes Constitutional Errors in Marcellus Williams’ Conviction and Death Sentence, Urges the Court to Vacate His Conviction

On August 28, 2024, a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge held an evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), who has long main­tained his inno­cence in the 1998 mur­der of Felicia Gayle. At this hear­ing, the office of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney (PA) Wesley Bell con­ced­ed that the pri­or admin­is­tra­tion, under Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCullogh, com­mit­ted con­sti­tu­tion­al errors con­tribut­ing to Mr. Williams’ unre­li­able con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. These errors include the mis­han­dling of the mur­der weapon that could have exon­er­at­ed Mr. Williams.

In January 2024, PA Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ death sen­tence after DNA test­ing exclud­ed him as the source of DNA on the mur­der weapon. A 2021 Missouri law allows pros­e­cu­tors to chal­lenge past con­vic­tions if they believe the indi­vid­ual is inno­cent or wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed. On August 21, attor­neys for Mr. Williams and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of PA Bell’s office were sched­uled to present evi­dence of his inno­cence, but before the hear­ing start­ed, pros­e­cu­tors from PA Bell’s office unex­pect­ed­ly announced that the mur­der weapon con­tained DNA of mem­bers of the tri­al pros­e­cu­tion team. Because of this dis­cov­ery, PA Bell’s office told the court that the DNA evi­dence ​“did not ful­ly sup­port [their] ini­tial con­clu­sions.” Mr. Williams agreed to enter an Alford plea in exchange for a sen­tence of life with­out parole after dis­cus­sions between coun­sel. This agree­ment would have ensured that Mr. Williams would not be exe­cut­ed. Hours after Judge Bruce F. Hilton accept­ed this plea agree­ment, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to block the agree­ment, argu­ing that Judge Hilton did not have the author­i­ty to resen­tence Mr. Williams. In response, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the low­er court to set aside the plea agree­ment and move for­ward with the sched­uled evidentiary hearing.

During the resched­uled evi­den­tiary hear­ing, PA Bell’s office acknowl­edged that the pre­vi­ous admin­is­tra­tion was respon­si­ble for the mis­han­dling of the mur­der weapon and con­ced­ed error in the destruc­tion of bloody fin­ger­prints left at the crime scene, as well as in the improp­er exclu­sion of prospec­tive Black jurors because of their race. PA Bell told the court that when con­sid­ered togeth­er, these issues under­mine the fair­ness and reli­a­bil­i­ty of Mr. Williams’ death sen­tence and con­vic­tion and require that both be vacat­ed. While PA Bell’s office sup­ports Mr. Williams’ inno­cence claim, AG Bailey’s office adamant­ly oppos­es relief for Mr. Williams. Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an attor­ney for Mr. Williams, said that since PA Bell’s office has acknowl­edged the unre­li­a­bil­i­ty of Mr. Williams’ con­vic­tion, and that the errors from the pre­vi­ous admin­is­tra­tion have ​“fore­closed Mr. Williams’ abil­i­ty to con­clu­sive­ly prove his inno­cence at this moment in time, and that under these cir­cum­stances, it would be uncon­scionable to allow his execution.”

Former St. Louis Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Keith Larner tes­ti­fied dur­ing the evi­den­tiary hear­ing that he deter­mined the knife used to kill Ms. Gayle was ​“worth­less” as a piece of evi­dence. Mr. Larner told the court that the knife han­dle had been ana­lyzed for fin­ger­prints, but none were recov­ered, and that the blood found on the knife matched Ms. Gayle’s. Therefore, the pros­e­cu­tors did not believe addi­tion­al foren­sic test­ing need­ed to be done. Mr. Larner tes­ti­fied that an inves­ti­ga­tor told him that the killer had worn gloves, mak­ing the weapon ​“irrel­e­vant.” Mr. Larner also dis­cussed his han­dling of the mur­der weapon with­out gloves and saw no issues with the prac­tice. He insist­ed that ​“there was noth­ing to link any­body to the crime on that knife.” Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane, rep­re­sent­ing AG Bailey’s office, told the court that Mr. Larner’s han­dling of the evi­dence with­out gloves was a rou­tine prac­tice. Mr. Spillane told the court that Mr. Larner did not do this in ​“bad faith” and that ​“it wasn’t even neg­li­gent.” Christopher McGraugh, one of Mr. Williams’ tri­al attor­neys, and now cir­cuit court judge in St. Louis, tes­ti­fied that at the time of Mr. Williams’ tri­al, it was well under­stood that han­dling foren­sic evi­dence with­out pre­cau­tions, like gloves, could result in con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed evi­dence. Mr. McGraugh told the court that when he han­dled evi­dence in Mr. Williams’ case, he was required to wear gloves.

When ques­tioned about the eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny used to obtain Mr. Williams’ con­vic­tion, Mr. Larner denied that any­thing ques­tion­able had occurred, claim­ing that both infor­mants, now deceased, were ​“two of the strongest wit­ness­es” he pre­sent­ed through­out his near­ly 32-year career as a pros­e­cu­tor in St. Louis County. After a mon­e­tary reward was offered for more infor­ma­tion about Ms. Gayle’s mur­der, a jail­house infor­mant, Henry Cole, told the police a sto­ry about how Marcellus Williams, a for­mer cell­mate of his, con­fessed to killing Ms. Gayle. Police lat­er secured anoth­er infor­mant, Mr. Williams’ for­mer girl­friend, Laura Asaro, who told police that Mr. Williams killed Ms. Gayle. Both Mr. Cole and Ms. Asaro were fac­ing unre­lat­ed crim­i­nal charges and stood to ben­e­fit from tes­ti­fy­ing for the state.

Judge Hilton has to issue a rul­ing by September 13, 2024. Mr. Williams is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on September 24, 2024.