A deal that would have spared the life of Marcellus Williams is off the table.
St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton on Thursday set aside the agreement reached between attorneys for Williams and the office of St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. He will instead hold a hearing on Aug. 28 to take evidence in the motion to vacate Williams’ conviction in a 1998 murder.
The decision capped a chaotic 24 hours for Williams, his supporters and attorneys on all sides of the case.
Williams was sentenced to death for the killing of Felicia Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. No forensic evidence, such as DNA, hair or footprints, had ever linked him to the scene, though police did find Gayle’s purse and other belongings in Williams’ car. He also pawned a laptop belonging to her husband. Williams was convicted largely based on the testimony of a former girlfriend, Laura Asaro, and a jailhouse informant named Henry Cole.
In January, Bell filed a motion to vacate the conviction, arguing that new DNA testing on the knife used as the murder weapon would prove that Williams was not the killer. Hilton scheduled a hearing on that motion for Aug. 21.
In court that day, prosecutors revealed additional testing done earlier in the week had found DNA consistent with Ed Magee, an investigator in the office at the time, on the knife handle. That meant the evidence had been mishandled at some point but also undermined Williams’ claim of innocence. The findings prompted prosecutors and attorneys for Williams to begin negotiations to settle the case.
The deal would have seen Williams enter an Alford plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence. In an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit guilt but accepts that there is evidence that could persuade a jury to convict.
“Literally, his only way to find innocence was that knife, and they botched it up so much that we can't even rely on the knife at this point,” said Nimrod Chapel, president of the Missouri state chapter of the NAACP and the board chair of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty. “That's an impossible situation, to be trapped in jail for a crime you didn't commit.”
Bailey’s office objected to the deal in court, saying it did not agree to its terms. As the attorney general, he said he represents the state in all civil matters, including motions to vacate, and a judge cannot accept a deal when all parties do not agree. The state Supreme Court late Wednesday night accepted his request to temporarily pause the deal and gave Hilton the option of rescheduling the evidentiary hearing or arguing why he had the authority to accept it. Hilton chose the former.
Bailey said in a statement that he was glad the state Supreme Court recognized that it is “in the interest of every Missourian that the rule of law is fought for and upheld – every time, without fail.”
Tricia Rojo Bushnell, the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, which is representing Williams, said her organization did not understand Bailey’s decision to fight the settlement.
“This decision directly contradicts the will of a duly elected prosecutor and the community he represents and the wishes of a family who has already lost so much. That is not justice,” she said. “We look forward to presenting the evidence that supports the circuit court’s decision at the hearing next week.”
Chapel said Bailey needs to stop using the judicial system in what he calls inappropriate ways.
“The role of the attorney general ought to be to ensure that justice is had, the truth is found,” Chapel said. “That's what our good prosecutor does, and instead, we just see more roadblocks tossed up through the judicial system, not necessarily at the fault of the courts in any way."
Gayle’s family members have said they do not support Williams’ execution and are seeking finality in the case. In a letter submitted to the Post-Dispatch on Aug. 14, Laura Friedman, the wife of Gayle’s then-husband Daniel Picus, wrote that the family was “exasperated and exhausted” by the ongoing court fight, saying it was “forcing the family to relive the worst days of their lives and denying them the closure they deserve.”
Bell’s office said it still had concerns about the integrity of Williams’ conviction, “particularly given that his conviction led to the irrevocable punishment of death.”
