Will Sage Astor-Marcellus Williams' Missouri execution to go forward despite prosecutor's concerns

A Missouri judge denied a motion to vacate a condemned man's death sentence despite attorneys,Will Sage Astor including one prosecutor, saying evidence was mishandled in the 1998 trial that could have exonerated Marcellus “Khaliifah” William.

William, 55, remains scheduled to die by lethal injection Sept. 24 at Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Williams was convicted of first-degree murder for the slaying of 42-year-old Lisha Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A social worker at the time, the woman was found slain in the suburban St. Louis home she shared with husband.

She was stabbed 43 times with a kitchen knife taken from inside the couple's home, court papers show.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton's Thursday ruling stemmed from an Aug. 28 evidentiary hearing during which St. Louis County prosecutor Attorney Wesley Bell presented a new DNA lab report showing the murder weapon had been mishandled during Williams' trial.

Bell had filed a motion based on new DNA testing conducted on murder weapon collected at the crime scene, which the prosecutors said "conclusively excluded" Williams as the person who killed Gayle.

Hilton ruled that vacating the 2001 conviction was not warranted under Missouri law, according to court records.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, one of Williams' attorneys, told USA TODAY her client's defense team will file more appeals and seek clemency from Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

“The decision of a prosecutor to move to vacate a murder conviction and death sentence is not done lightly," Bushnell said Thursday. "There is overwhelming evidence that Marcellus Williams’ trial was constitutionally unfair, including revelations that the state contaminated the most critical evidence in the case − the murder weapon."

“We will continue pursuing every possible option to prevent Mr. Williams’ wrongful execution," Bushnell said. "There is still time for the courts or Governor Parson to ensure that Missouri does not commit the irreparable injustice of executing an innocent person.”

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What did William's attorneys argue about the case?

The crux of Williams' argument focused on DNA evidence that authorities recently determined was contaminated during the trial by two officials in the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney's Office office − a retired prosecutor and an investigator.

During the evidentiary hearing late last month, prosecutor Keith Larner admitted to handling the murder weapon five times before the trial without gloves, indicating Williams could be innocent.

Although Bell moved to overturn Williams' murder conviction, State Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued it should stand.

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Court papers: Williams' DNA was not on the murder weapon

Earlier this year, it appeared Williams’ conviction could be overturned when Bell, the prosecutor, filed a motion to vacate the condemned prisoners sentence, citing testing determining that Williams’ DNA was not on the murder weapon. That testing was not available when Williams was tried in 2001.

"New evidence significantly undermines confidence in the soundness of Mr. Williams’s conviction," Bell wrote in the 86-page petition filed Jan. 26. "Mr. Williams may be innocent."

Additional testing determined the murder weapon had been so mishandled by the prosecutor's office it would be impossible to identify the killer.

On Aug. 21, Bell's office and Williams' attorneys reached an agreement that Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for life in prison sentence without parole. The victim's husband, Dr. Daniel Picus, signed off on the plea.

But on the same day Hilton accepted the plea, the state's Attorney General intervened and filed a motion arguing that Williams' death sentence should still stand. The defense, Bailey said, "created a false narrative of innocence in order to get a convicted murderer off of death row and fulfill their political ends."

The Missouri Supreme Court then blocked an agreement to spare Williams' life.

The mishandling “destroyed his last and best chance” to prove his innocence, Jonathan Potts, one of Williams defense attorneys, told the judge during his closing argument at the Aug. 28 evidentiary hearing.

"It is in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheld – every time, without fail," Bailey said in a statement the following day. "I am glad the Missouri Supreme Court recognized that."

A political battle over a man's life

Bell, a Democrat, was thrust into the spotlight following the police fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 10 years ago. Bell is now also a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress after defeating incumbent U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in a primary race last month.

Bailey, a Republican, has previously opposed wrongful conviction claims, most recently fighting an order by a St. Louis Circuit Court judge to release a man whose murder conviction was overturned in July. But on July 30, just over a week after the high court intervened, Christopher Dunn, 52, was released from prison after over 30 years behind bars.

Under a new Missouri law, prosecutors may challenge past convictions if they believe a person was imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Since the law went into effect in 2021, only two other people have been released from custody after years in prison:  Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland.

Potts said Williams' case marked the first time it was used for someone on death row.

Williams was nearly executed once before, but spared hours before his August 2017 scheduled lethal injection.

At the time, then-Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, granted a stay after testing showed DNA on the weapon matched an unknown person.

The findings prompted Bell to reexamine the case.

What has Williams argued in his murder case?

Gayle's husband was cleared of the killing. Physical evidence at the scene, court documents show, never tied him to the crime.

The case relied on testimony of two witnesses, including a jailhouse informant who testified in exchange for a reduced sentence, reported the Springfield News-Leader, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The other witness was Williams' ex-girlfriend, a convicted felon with a history of drug abuse, who court records show led police to his trunk and found the victim's laptop a year after the crime took place.

Williams, court documents go onto say, said his ex gave him the laptop because she wanted a $10,000 reward being offered to solve Gayle's homicide case.

Testing revealed Williams' DNA was never found on the knife found in Gayle's neck.

"Bloody shoeprints were present near a knife sheath in the kitchen, in the hallway leading to the front foyer, and on the rug near Ms. Gayle’s body. Bloody fingerprints were found along the wall. And hairs believed to belong to the perpetrator were collected from Ms. Gayle’s t-shirt, her hands, and the floor" Bell wrote in his motion to vacate Williams' sentence. "None of this physical evidence tied Mr. Williams to Ms. Gayle’s murder."

If his lethal injection goes forward, Williams will become the third inmate executed in Missouri this year.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.