A death row inmate has been executed for the murder of a woman during a home invasion, despite pleas for clemency from the prosecutor, the victim’s family, and Richard Branson.
Marcellus Williams, 55, was convicted for the 1998 m*rder of Felicia ‘Lisha’ Gayle, who was brutally stabbed over 40 times during a burglary at her home in St. Louis, Missouri.
His final words were: “All praise be to Allah in every situation.”
High-profile figures, including British entrepreneur Richard Branson, were among those advocating for a reprieve.
In an interview with the BBC, Branson shared that he had dedicated part of his day to the Williams case.
“He’s an innocent person,” Branson stated. “Even the prosecuting counsel has informed the governor that this man is innocent.”
Branson also published a blog post urging Governor Mike Parson to intervene and prevent the “execution of an innocent man on his watch.”
He wrote: “While investigators uncovered substantial forensic evidence at the crime scene, none was linked to Mr. Williams. His conviction relied solely on the inconsistent and unverified testimony of two incentivized witnesses.
“Throughout this ordeal, Mr. Williams has consistently maintained his innocence. In 2016, DNA testing confirmed that he was not the source of the male DNA found on the m*rder weapon.”
Williams’s execution was one of five carried out in the U.S. within just a week—the highest number in two decades.
His last meal featured chicken wings and tater tots.
While awaiting execution, Williams appeared to engage in conversation with a spiritual advisor seated beside him.
After the lethal injection was administered, his chest heaved about six times, and he showed no further movement.
Williams’s son and two lawyers observed from another room, while no representatives from the victim’s family were present.
“Tonight, we all witness Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power,” one of his attorneys, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, stated. “This should never happen, and we must not allow it to continue.”
Williams’s legal team raised concerns about how his case was handled, including the improper exclusion of Black jurors from his trial.
They pointed out the absence of forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene and argued that the murder weapon had been mishandled, which cast doubt on the DNA evidence.
Over a million petitions requesting a stay of execution were submitted to Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson.
The NAACP was among those urging Parson to halt the execution.
“Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson stated.
Williams was one of several death row inmates across five states scheduled for execution within a week—an unusually high figure that contradicts a long-term decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S.
The first execution took place on Friday, September 20, in South Carolina, with Texas also planning to execute a prisoner on Tuesday evening.
This marked the third time Williams faced execution. He had received reprieves in 2015 and 2017, but his final appeals this time were unsuccessful.
On Monday, September 23, both Parson and the state Supreme Court swiftly rejected his appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene just hours before his execution.
The governor expressed hope that the execution would bring closure to a case that “languished for decades, re-victimizing Ms. Gayle’s family repeatedly.”
“No juror or judge has ever deemed Williams’ claim of innocence credible,” Parson stated.