A judge weighs whether to spare Missouri man from execution after evidence was mishandled

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Marcellus Williams thought the DNA evidence was enough to remove him from Missouri’s death row, perhaps even free him from prison. A decades-old mistake by a prosecutor’s office has kept his life hanging in the balance.

Williams, 55, is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 24 for the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle in the St. Louis suburb of University City. On Wednesday, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton presided over an evidentiary hearing challenging Williams’ guilt. He did not immediately issue a ruling but is expected to do so by mid-September.

The heart of Williams’ argument was DNA evidence that authorities recently determined was contaminated more than two decades ago by officials in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Mishandling of the murder weapon was devastating for Williams because it “destroyed his last and best chance” to prove his innocence, said Jonathan Potts, an attorney for Williams.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which opposed a deal that would spare Williams’ life but give him a life sentence, said other evidence points to his guilt.

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“They refer to the evidence as this case as being weak. It was overwhelming,” Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane said.

At one point this year, it looked like Williams’ conviction might be overturned. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed such a request in January, citing testing that found Williams’ DNA was not on the murder weapon. That testing was not available when Williams was tried in 2001.

But subsequent tests determined the knife had been so mishandled in the aftermath of the killing that it would be impossible to identify the killer. With the DNA evidence spoiled, lawyers for Williams and the prosecutor’s office reached a compromise at an Aug. 21 hearing: Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole.

Hilton signed off on the agreement. So did Gayle’s family.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office did not. At Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s urging, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the agreement and ordered Hilton to proceed with an evidentiary hearing.

Williams’ execution, now less than four weeks away, is still on. If Hilton rules against Williams, his attorneys are expected to file more appeals and seek clemency from Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

Testing found that DNA from Edward Magee, an investigator for the prosecutor’s office when Williams was tried, was on the knife. Testing also couldn’t exclude the original prosecutor who handled the case, Keith Larner.

Larner acknowledged Wednesday that he touched the knife at least five times, without gloves, while preparing for trial.

“I didn’t even know of any other testing that could be done,” Larner said.

Charlotte Word, an expert in forensic DNA testing, testified that because of how the knife was handled, it was impossible to know if Williams’ DNA had previously been on it.

A 2021 Missouri law allows prosecutors to ask a court to vacate a conviction they believe was unjust. Three other men — Christopher Dunn last month, Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — have been freed after decades in prison under that law.

Williams has been close to execution before. In August 2017, just hours before his scheduled lethal injection, then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, granted a stay after testing showed that DNA on the knife matched an unknown person.

That evidence prompted Bell to reexamine the case. A rising star in Missouri Democratic politics, Bell defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in a primary this month and is heavily favored in the November general election.

Prosecutors at Williams’ trial said he broke into Gayle’s home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water running in the shower, and found a large butcher knife. When Gayle came downstairs, she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen. Gayle was a social worker who previously worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams’ girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and that Williams sold it a day or two later.

Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors Williams confessed to the killing and offered details about it.

Williams’ attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted felons out for a $10,000 reward.

Larner testified Wednesday that “they were the two strongest witnesses I’ve ever had in a murder case.”

Williams is Black and Potts, Williams’ attorney, questioned why the trial jury included just one Black juror. Larner said he struck just three potential Black jurors, including one whom he said looked like Williams.

Williams’ trial attorney, Joseph Green, told Hilton that when Williams was tried, he also was representing Kenneth Baumruk, who killed his wife in a courthouse shooting in 1992. That case took time away from working on Williams’ defense, Green — now a judge — said.

“I don’t believe he got our best,” Green said.