Marcellus Williams, whose murder conviction was questioned by a prosecutor, died by lethal injection Tuesday evening in Missouri after the US Supreme Court denied a stay.
The 55-year-old was put to death around 6 p.m. CT at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Williams’ attorneys had filed a flurry of appeal efforts based on what they described as new evidence – including alleged bias in jury selection and contamination of the murder weapon prior to trial. The victim’s family had asked the inmate be spared death. The US Supreme Court’s action came a day after Missouri’s supreme court and governor refused to grant a stay of execution.
But that effort unraveled at a circuit court hearing last month, after new DNA testing revealed the murder weapon had been mishandled prior to the 2001 trial – contaminating the evidence meant to exonerate Williams and complicating his quest to prove his innocence. Attorneys “received a report indicating the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to an assistant prosecuting attorney and an investigator who had handled the murder weapon without gloves prior to trial,” the state’s judicial branch said.
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