ST. LOUIS COUNTY — In 2001, Keith Larner won a first-degree murder conviction against Marcellus Williams.
On Wednesday, Larner was on the witness stand facing sharp questioning about his handling of the case, including the contamination of DNA on the murder weapon, potential racial bias in the jury selection and the unreliable witnesses on which much of his case hung.
Williams, who faces execution in less than a month, claims he is innocent of stabbing Felicia Gayle to death in 1998. ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell agrees. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey says Williams should die for the crime and that a plea deal to save him was illegal.
Wednesday’s court-ordered evidentiary hearing — which will likely decide Williams’ fate — was tense and adversarial. The six hours of testimony rehashing evidence in the case were littered with objections and interjections.
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Larner was defiant. He had prosecuted around three dozen murder cases for the county.
Gayle’s killing, he said, was “the most violent murder I’ve ever seen in 40 years.â€
Williams’ team maintained that no physical evidence links him to the crime and that he is innocent.
On Wednesday, the death row inmate appeared in what he wore last week: black-rimmed eyeglasses, a white Taqiyah — a cap for Muslim men — and a light grey thobe, a long robe Muslim men often wear.
He expressed no emotion and appeared focused throughout the day’s testimonies.
Dr. Daniel Picus, Gayle’s husband, also attended the hearing. He sat in the first row of benches, did not visibly react to the testimony and declined to talk to the media after the hearing ended.
Williams’ lawyers have said Picus does not want Williams to be executed but wants some finality in a case that has dragged on through the appeals process for decades.
“Today, there is only one voice clamoring for death,†said Jonathan Potts, an attorney for Williams, in his closing statement. “And that’s the attorney general.â€
Evidence and jury selection
Many of the lawyers’ questions centered on the fact that Larner’s DNA was potentially found on the murder weapon, suggesting that this key piece of evidence was mishandled.
Larner testified that he still does not know if his DNA was found there, even though the results of the DNA were publicly shared last week and widely reported.
“I’d like to know,†the former assistant prosecutor said, adding: “I touched the knife at some point before the trial.â€
Larner testified that he handled the knife at least five times with his bare hands while preparing witnesses and when he showed it to Gayle’s husband.
Michael Spillane, an attorney representing the attorney general, noted in his cross-examination and closing statement that this handling was typical protocol at the time and said Larner did not act in bad faith.
Larner also vouched for Henry Cole and Laura Asaro, the key witnesses pivotal in Williams’ conviction.
“I think they were the two strongest witnesses I’ve ever had in a murder case,†Larner said.
Williams’ team said their testimonies were unreliable because of their history of providing false information to police for their own benefit, their drug addictions and the fact that both received reward money from Gayle’s family.
Larner also defended jury selection in the case, saying it was done by the book and in compliance with Missouri law. He denied allegations that he struck six of the seven potential Black jurors because of their race.
Williams’ original defense
Also testifying Wednesday were Williams’ original defense attorneys, who are now both judges: Joseph Green and Christopher McGraugh.
Green had tried more than two dozen capital murder cases at the time of Williams’ trial. But he said he was defending another high-profile capital murder suspect at the same time. That suspect, Kenneth Baumruk, was convicted in 2001 of murdering his wife in 1992 at the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County courthouse.
“No matter what I did, some aspect of either case was going to suffer because of the timing,†Green said.
Williams’ case suffered, he said. “I don’t believe he got our best.â€
Williams’ current legal team also questioned genetic and forensic experts who testified there is no DNA evidence linking Williams to the crime. Only two samples were on the knife — one consistent with Larner and another that may have come from another investigator on the case.
Dave Thompson, a certified forensic interviewer, testified that Cole and Asaro could not be trusted. The information they provided had either been reported by the news media or was information police knew, he said. Thompson also noted that Cole was intensely interested in the reward money offered at the time.
The exception, he said, was Asaro’s information regarding the location of Gayle’s husband’s stolen Apple laptop.
Hilton, the judge, now has just a few weeks to decide whether to vacate Williams’ conviction.