ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday denied the state attorney general’s request to block an August hearing to determine if Marcellus Williams, set to be executed in September, is innocent of murder.
The ruling comes about a week after Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office filed the motion to block the hearing. His lawyers argued that the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Court judge does not have the authority to reverse or overrule Marcellus Williams’ first-degree murder conviction because a higher court has already issued a ruling in the case and set an execution date.
The Missouri Supreme Court did not provide its reasoning for denying the request.
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One of Williams’ lawyers, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement that her team is relieved.
“No one should stand in the way of this hearing, requested by the county prosecutor, aimed at ensuring Missouri does not execute an innocent man,†she wrote.
Bailey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the murder conviction. It said he believed Williams was not involved in Lisha Gayle’s 1998 death because of new DNA evidence. A judge earlier this month scheduled an Aug. 21 hearing to consider overturning the murder conviction
He is set to be executed Sept. 24.
“We look forward to having our concerns about the conviction of Mr. Williams heard in the 21st Judicial Circuit,†Bell said in response to Friday’s ruling.
Williams was convicted of breaking into the suburban home of former Post-Dispatch reporter Gayle on Aug. 11, 1998, and stabbing her 43 times.
He was set to die in August 2017, but hours before his execution, then-Gov. Eric Greitens halted the process and ordered an investigation into DNA evidence that could not be tested at the time of the murder. That evidence showed there was DNA on the knife used to stab Gayle that matched someone else, not Williams.
He appointed five retired judges to investigate.
Six years later, Gov. Mike Parson disbanded the group in June 2023. It’s unclear whether they reached a conclusion.
Williams sued, and the Missouri Supreme Court set his September execution date hours after it ruled Parson was within his rights to break up the board and move forward with the execution.
In another case case this week, Bailey’s office was affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court in its request to keep Christopher Dunn in prison, despite a lower court ruling clearing him of murder and ordering his immediate release.
The one-page order from the state high court came minutes before Dunn was expected to walk out of prison after 33 years.