Missouri inmate with innocence declare appeals to Supreme Court forward of September 24 execution | EUROtoday

A Missouri demise row inmate has launched a flurry of appeals forward of his scheduled September 24 execution date, sustaining his innocence within the 1998 homicide of St. Louis newspaper reporter Felicia Gayle.

Marcellus Williams, 55, has a number of avenues remaining that would halt the upcoming execution.

He has an attraction earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court, asking whether or not he can declare his due course of rights have been violated when Missouri governor Mike Parson dissolved a board a earlier governor arrange in 2017 to contemplate whether or not Williams deserves clemency.

Separately, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which beforehand struck a deal for Williams to keep away from a demise sentence, has appealed earlier than the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse a current decrease courtroom determination upholding Williams’s conviction and scheduled execution.

Finally, Williams additionally has a clemency petition earlier than Parson, which factors to needs from a few of Gayle’s relations that the execution be canceled.

“The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” the petition, obtained by the Associated Press, reads. “Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”

Williams was sentenced to demise in 2001 for killing Gayle, who was stabbed 43 occasions in her residence.

Since then, his case has had an extended and winding path by means of the judicial system.

Most not too long ago, with Williams nonetheless claiming innocence, native prosecutors agreed with courtroom officers in August to a consent judgment, the place the 55-year-old would settle for punishment for the homicide cost towards him whereas formally expressing his innocence, serving a life sentence with out parole as an alternative of being executed.

The similar day the settlement was introduced, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked it from taking impact.

Attorneys for Williams, who’s Black, argue Black jurors have been wrongly excluded from the case, and that there’s no bodily proof linking the 55-year-old to the crime scene. They additionally argue that the DNA current on the homicide weapon doesn’t match Williams.

This month, a county courtroom sided with state officers, who argued testing on the weapon matched the trial prosecutor within the unique conviction and one in every of his investigators, undercutting the innocence claims.

“(Williams’) remaining evidence amounts to nothing more than re-packaged arguments about evidence that was available at trial and involved in Williams’ unsuccessful direct appeal and post-conviction challenges,” the courtroom held.

Missouri has executed two folks thus far this 12 months, in keeping with the Associated Press.

The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint marketing campaign calling for an finish to the demise penalty within the US. The RBIJ has attracted greater than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty – with The Independent as the most recent on the listing. We be part of high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as a part of this initiative and are making a pledge to focus on the injustices of the demise penalty in our protection.