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Aug. 28, 2024St. Louis |  By: AP

Missouri death row inmate gets another chance at a hearing that could spare his life

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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 is expected to announce a ruling by mid-September.

The heart of Williams’ argument was DNA evidence that authorities recently determined was contaminated over two decades ago by officials in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has opposed an effort to spare Williams’ life and said that other evidence points to his guilt.

Testing that was not available when Williams was tried in 2001 found that his DNA was not on the murder weapon, prompting St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell in January to file a request for the conviction to be overturned.

But the case on behalf of Williams took a big hit when subsequent tests determined that 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.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane told Hilton on Wednesday that the killer wore gloves, so it would be unlikely his DNA would be on the knife anyway.

The 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 testified Wednesday that the knife was treated carefully in the days after the killing, then placed in a sealed box. But he acknowledged that while preparing for trial he touched the knife at least five times, without gloves.

“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.

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.

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

Williams’ trial attorney, Joseph Green, told the court 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.