Murder of Felicia Gayle

Last updated
Murder of Felicia Gayle
Location University City, Missouri
DateAugust 11, 1998
Attack type
 Homicide by Stabbing
ConvictedMarcellus Williams
Verdict Death
Charges Murder

Felicia Gayle Picus (known as Lisha) was an American journalist. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter was found stabbed to death in her home during the day on August 11, 1998. Gayle, 42 years old, was killed during a burglary in her gated community in University City, Missouri. She was stabbed and cut 43 times with a butcher's knife taken from her kitchen.

Contents

A man named Marcellus Williams was charged with the murder based on the testimonies of two witnesses, claiming that Williams had confessed to the crime. Williams was sentenced to death in August 2001. During his stay on death row, it was noted by anti-death penalty activists that the DNA found at the scene did not match that of Williams, calling for his execution to be stopped. [1]

Life

Felicia Gayle was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois. She had graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in journalism and made her way in that career. By 1981, she was working as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch , where she stayed until 1992. She left the newspaper to pursue more philanthropy and volunteer work. [2]

In 1998, Gayle lived with her husband, Dr. Daniel Picus, in a home in University City, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri. They had known each other since childhood in Rockford. He is a radiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Burglary and murder

Gayle was stabbed to death during a daytime burglary at her home on August 11, 1998. [3] Williams broke into the house and stabbed Gayle 16 times with a butcher's knife; seven of the wounds were fatal. [4] Gayle's purse, her jacket, and her husband's laptop were found to be missing, along with some other minor items. Gayle was 42 years old at the time of her murder.

Investigation and trial

The crime scene left an abundance of forensic evidence for profiling the otherwise unknown murderer, such as fingerprints, footprints, hair, and a DNA trace on the murder weapon. [1] In May 1999, Gayle's family announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. [5] In response, two individuals, Henry Cole and Lara Asaro, named Marcellus Scott Williams (born December 30, 1968) [6] as the culprit. Williams had an extensive criminal record. Cole volunteered that Williams had made a jailhouse confession to him when both were in jail on charges unrelated to the murder. Cole had already been released before volunteering his information. Williams had started serving a 20-year sentence for robbing a doughnut shop. [7] Lara Asaro, the girlfriend of Williams at the time of the crime, gave testimony that Williams had confessed to her and detailed what had happened. This is after she discovered evidence from the crime scene in Williams' car. Unlike Cole's deposition, which was compatible with news reports, she is said to have provided details that had not been mentioned in the public accounts of the crime, [8] [9] a point contested by the Innocence Project. [1] [10]

Both informants stood to benefit from their testimonies, which varied over time, and which sometimes conflicted with other details about the murder. [8] [1] Both could gain financially from the reward offered. One witness, Glenn Roberts, stated that he had purchased an Apple laptop from Williams shortly after the robbery. Williams did not testify at his trial. After the trial, Williams said he had sold the victim's Apple device to Roberts, and that he had told him he had received the laptop from Lara Asaro, a defense which would have linked her to the crime.

During the trial, the judge had refused to allow testing of some of the DNA evidence found at the scene. Jury selection challenges had resulted in a jury of 11 whites and one African American. Williams was convicted of Gayle's murder in 2001 by the jury after testimony from 22 witnesses. Williams was already serving a 50 year sentence for an unrelated robbery when he was sentenced to death on August 27, 2001, by St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett M. O'Brien.

Death penalty, dates and stays

Williams has been held on death row at Potosi Correctional Center since the end of his trial. He had always maintained his innocence in the Gayle case until he accepted an Alford plea of guilty in August 2024 [11] [12] . His case has been appealed unsuccessfully several times. He was first scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2015. In appeals, his defense produced evidence that DNA taken from the knife at the scene revealed an unknown male profile and did not match that of Williams. [8] Williams was scheduled to be executed on August 22, 2017.

Questions continue to be raised, as the state Supreme Court would not hear the new DNA evidence nor stay the execution. The prosecutor said they were confident about the case despite the DNA. [13] Governor Eric Greitens issued a last-minute stay of execution that day. [14] The governor initiated a Board of Inquiry to examine the new DNA evidence and other aspects of the case. [15] The Board was headed by Carol E. Jackson, former federal judge of the Eastern District of Missouri. The Board consists of five retired federal judges to review the case. [16] It has subpoenaed both prosecution and defense. [17] [18] The Board was also to meet with the state and defense attorneys in June 2018. Greitens resigned as governor in June 2018. The DNA evidence and new analysis suggested that another man was a suspect; DNA on the knife did not match that of Williams. The Board had hearings in August 2018. Governor Mike Parson was to receive the Board's conclusion, and make his decision. [19] As of September 2021, the Board were still looking into new findings.

In June 2023, Governor Parson decided to dissolve the panel of five judges without receiving their report and lifted the stay on Williams' execution. He said it was time for the court to make a decision. [2] Later, State Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to set a date for Williams' execution. [8] [20]

In August 2023, The Midwest Innocence Project filed a lawsuit, stating that the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney is on record as stating he has convincing evidence of Williams' innocence. [21] According to the Innocence Project, the Missouri Attorney General's Office has a record of dismissing DNA evidence that points to an accused person's innocence. [22]

On January 26, 2024, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, asking the Court to vacate Marcellus Williams' death sentence. A 2021 Missouri law allows a prosecutor to intervene where there is information suggesting a convicted person may be innocent. He cited potential "ineffective assistance of counsel", apparent bias in jury selection, and potential weakness of the police investigation. He asked the Court for a hearing to consider the new evidence and other aspects of the investigation and trial. [8] The new evidence consisted of a special prosecutor's review of the case, including the findings of 3 independent DNA experts who unanimously concluded that the male DNA on the murder weapon was not Williams'. [1] A hearing was scheduled for August 21, 2024 to determine his innocence. [23]

On June 4, 2024, Williams was again scheduled to be executed on September 24, 2024. [24] On July 2, the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, scheduled a hearing for August 21, 2024, to evaluate the "clear and convincing evidence" of Williams' innocence. [25] On July 12, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that his execution will move forward despite the pending lawsuit to overturn his conviction. In the court's opinion overruling the motion, justice Zel Fischer ruled that "they do not have the procedural authority to withdraw the execution order at this time." [23]

On August 21, 2024, Williams accepted a plea bargain offered by the prosecution to commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [11] [12] The prosecutors argued in favour of Williams during the hearing that the DNA testing of the murder weapon did not match him, and they duly considered this fact before offering an "Alford plea" to vacate the death sentence in Williams's case. However, the state attorney general opposed to this decision and wanted the execution to move forward as scheduled. [26]

On the same day, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the plea deal agreement and the execution date of Williams was still slated as September 24, 2024, and a hearing is scheduled to hear the innocence claims of Williams. [27]

On September 12, 2024, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton rejected the appeal of Williams, stating that the counsel has rehashed their arguments from previous appeals, all of which were rejected multiple times by the state and federal courts, and ordered that the execution should move forward as scheduled. [28]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Who Is Marcellus Williams: Man Facing Execution in Missouri Despite DNA Evidence Proving Innocence". Innocence Project . 2023-08-15. Archived from the original on 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  2. 1 2 "Death penalty case to continue against man citing new DNA evidence in stabbing death of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter". CBSnews.com. Associated Press. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Ritzen, Yarno (August 23, 2017). "faces execution despite new evidence". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  4. ↑ Percival, Rosemary E. "IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSOURI STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. MARCELLUS WILLIAMS, Appellant" (PDF). courts.mo.gov. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Skrivan, Laurie (17 May 1999). "Police no longer believe 2 slayings are linked". St Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Missouri Department Of Corrections Offender Search". web.mo.gov. Retrieved January 1, 2021. As of July 2024: "163729 Williams Marcellus 12-30-1968 Black 6'4" 217 lbs Male"
  7. ↑ Smith, Jordan (2024-01-14). "Crime A trace amount of DNA on the knife handle could not be matched to Marcellus Williams. Missouri May Fast-Track His Execution Anyway". The Intercept . Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "After Attorney General's Request for Execution Date, St. Louis County Prosecutor Files Motion to Vacate Marcellus Williams' Death Sentence". deathpenaltyinfo.org. Death Penalty Information Center. 1 February 2024. Archived from the original on 2024-07-03. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  9. ↑ Mittman, Jeffrey (20 August 2017). "Opinion: Stop the execution of Marcellus Williams". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 23 August 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ↑ Innocence Project 2023:'Both of these individuals were known fabricators; neither revealed any information that was not either included in media accounts about the case or already known to the police. Their statements were inconsistent with their own prior statements, with each other's accounts, and with the crime scene evidence, and none of the information they provided could be independently verified.'
  11. 1 2 "Missouri death row inmate in plea deal to avoid execution". BBC. August 21, 2024.
  12. 1 2 "Missouri death row inmate expected to be resentenced to life without parole under new agreement". CNN. August 21, 2024.
  13. ↑ Regnier, Chris (22 August 2017). "Missouri is set to execute a convicted killer. His lawyers say new DNA evidence proves he's innocent". fox2now.com. CNN Wires. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  14. ↑ Kohler, Jeremy (August 18, 2017). "Death row inmate asks U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution for former P-D reporter's murder". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Marcellus Williams: Missouri governor stays execution". BBC News . August 22, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  16. ↑ Mannies, Jo (2017-09-12). "Missouri governor names panel to examine new DNA evidence in Marcellus Williams' case". St. Louis Public Radio .
  17. ↑ Didcock, James (2018-04-26). "Marcellus Williams: Board of Inquiry Set to Meet with State and Defence Attorneys in June". Criminal Justice Reform Journal.
  18. ↑ "After governor's resignation, fate of Missouri man on death row in doubt". CBS News . 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30.
  19. ↑ Marshall, Griffin (2018-08-22). "Williams death penalty review panel hears new evidence". St. Louis Public Radio .
  20. ↑ Swain, Jordan (14 January 2024). "Crime Scene DNA Didn't Match Marcellus Williams. Missouri May Fast-Track His Execution Anyway". The Intercept. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  21. ↑ Czachor, Emily Mae (2024-06-05). "Missouri sets execution date for death row inmate Marcellus Williams, despite doubts over DNA evidence". CBS News . Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  22. ↑ Innocence Project:'In a 2003 oral argument before the Missouri Supreme Court, Justice Laura Denvir Stith asked Assistant Attorney General Frank Jung, "Are you suggesting … even if we find that Mr. Amrine is actually innocent, he should be executed?" "That is correct, your honor," Jung replied. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately disagreed, and Mr. Amrine was exonerated. But over 20 years later, the same arguments are still being made..'
  23. 1 2 "Missouri execution plans move forward despite prosecutor trying to overturn murder conviction". AP News . 2024-07-12. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  24. ↑ Schmidt, Heidi (June 4, 2024). "Missouri sets execution date for inmate who claims innocence". KCTV 5. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Who Is Marcellus Williams: Man Facing Execution in Missouri Despite DNA Evidence Proving Innocence". Innocence Project. 2023-08-15. Archived from the original on 2024-03-24. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  26. ↑ "US death row inmate to get life in prison after DNA testing weakens conviction". The Straits Times. August 22, 2024.
  27. ↑ "Missouri Supreme Court blocks agreement that would have halted execution". AP News. August 22, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Missouri judge rejects innocence claim of Marcellus Williams who faces execution". Associated Press . September 12, 2024.
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