A 55-year-old Missouri man has been executed for breaking into a woman's home and killing her, despite calls by her family and the prosecutor's office that put him on death row to let him serve out the rest of his life in prison.
Marcellus Williams was convicted in 1998 for fatally stabbing Lisha Gayle, who was 42 at the time, during a burglary of her suburban home in St. Louis.
Prosecutors at Williams' trial said he broke into her home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard the shower running, and found a large butcher knife. Gayle was stabbed 43 times when she came downstairs. Her purse and her husband's laptop were stolen.
Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. His girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. She said she later saw the purse and laptop in his car and that Williams sold the computer a day or two later.
Williams maintained that he was innocent and hoped to commute his sentence to life in prison but suffered dual setbacks on Monday when Republican Gov. Mike Parson denied him clemency and the Missouri Supreme Court declined to grant him a stay of execution. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene Tuesday.
His clemency petition focused heavily on how Gayle's relatives wanted Williams' sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
"The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live," the petition stated. "Marcellus' execution is not necessary."
Williams' son and two attorneys watched from another room. No one was present on behalf of the victim's family.
The Department of Corrections released a brief statement that Williams had written ahead of time, saying: "All Praise Be to Allah In Every Situation!!!"
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he hoped the execution brings finality to a case that "languished for decades, revictimizing Ms. Gayle's family over and over again."
"No juror nor judge has ever found Williams' innocence claim to be credible," Parson said in a statement.
The NAACP had been among those urging Parson to cancel the execution.
"Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
It was the third time Williams faced execution. It was postponed in 2015 and 2017, but his last-ditch efforts this time were futile.
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