From a Hurting Heart: On the Execution of Marcellus Williams

There’s no other way to write this outside of the extensive curse words I want to use: What, the actual, hell? How on earth does the United States have such a deeply flawed system of injustice that the state of Missouri executed a man that both the defense and prosecution believed was innocent? My heart is heavy. How about you?

The state of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams on Tuesday, September 24. He was convicted of a murder committed in 1998. It was apparently a burglary gone wrong that resulted in the killing of former newspaper reporter Lisha Gayle. Williams was sentenced to death.

There is significant evidence that Williams was wrongly convicted. The original prosecutor, Wesley Bell, sought to block the execution out of concerns about the trial. Bell had concern about two of the primary trial witnesses as well as how prosecutors excluded Black jurors. Further, there was no DNA evidence tying Williams to the crime scene. In fact, the DNA found on the knife used in the murder was actually from a prosecutor and investigator who processed the scene without wearing gloves. Repeated DNA testing found no connection to Williams.

The victim’s family as well as several jurors who served on the trial expressed doubt about Williams’ guilt and wished to spare his life. Inexplicably, none of this was enough to commute Williams’ sentence to life in prison because it did not establish his “actual innocence.”

The witnesses who did testify, as is often the case, were seemingly trying to game this messed up system. One who shared a jail cell with Williams and to whom he allegedly confessed, had been convicted of felonies and offered reward to testify. Likewise, a girlfriend who testified likely falsified her claims for financial gain.

Williams’ case is yet another example of how the system of capital punishment is broken beyond repair. The absurdity that everyone can agree that someone is innocent but that bureaucratic issues prevail is not a sign of a healthy system of justice.

I care a lot that Marcellus Williams was apparently wrongly convicted and certainly wrongly executed. We should all, because executions take place in our names with our tax dollars. We need to speak up, not just when the system gets it so horrifically wrong, as it did here, but because if we do not, our silence is endorsement that the state killing people is OK. I cannot live with that. I hope others cannot as well.

As many have pointed out, making a mistake in convicting someone is a fixable problem–unless the punishment is the death penalty. Then a fix is forever impossible. Why would we operate this way?

I am feeling so distraught, yet I am still trying to see a glimmer of hope. As a college professor, I am so fortunate to work with amazing students who I think will do better. I have the most wonderfully smart daughter who I know will be part of the solution.

I can’t stop crying. We can’t stop trying.

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