Execution of Williams Carried Out

Bonne Terre, Mo. (KFMO) - The State of Missouri carried out the execution of a man, Tuesday, convicted for breaking into a woman’s home and killing her - despite calls for him to serve out the rest of his life behind bars. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in and save the life of the death row inmate, who insisted he was innocent of murder. The Supreme Court rejected two separate appeals to spare the life of Marcellus Williams, a day after Missouri's highest court and Governor Mike Parson declined to step in on his behalf. 

Director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, Trevor Foley, read a statement from Governor Parson. 

Governor Parson also said that he hopes this gives the case finality.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann says the Supreme Court declined to hear any petition in the case.

The prosecutor in the case, says black jurors were improperly excluded in the 2003 conviction, questioned the reliability of the two main trial witnesses and says new testing found no evidence of Williams' DNA on the murder weapon. Both the prosecutor in the case against Williams and the family of the victim, Felicia Gayle, opposed the execution. He was convicted of killing Gale, who was stabbed 43 times during a burglary at her suburban St. Louis home in 1998. But questions have been raised about jury selection and evidence in the case. Even Gale's relatives wanted Williams sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole. 

There were nine witnesses including William's son. Williams is the third Missouri inmate put to death this year.