Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
US execution halted as DNA casts doubt on conviction
Inquiry called to re-examine case
A CONVICTED murderer has avoided being put to death by just a few hours after new DNA evidence was found.
Marcellus Williams, who had been on death row for 16 years for the killing of a former newspaper reporter, was granted a stay by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens.
“A sentence of death is the ultimate, permanent punishment,” Mr Greitens said in a statement. “To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt.
“In light of new information, I am appointing a Board of Inquiry in this case.”
The execution of the 48-year-old by lethal injection had been scheduled for Tuesday, but was stopped when his legal team said DNA evidence unavailable during his 2001 trial proved his innocence.
Mr Greitens’ office had argued the execution should go ahead, saying it did not overcome non-dna evidence connecting Williams to Felicia Gayle’s death.
St Louis County prosecutor Bob Mcculloch argued there was ample other evidence to convict Williams and “zero possibility” of his innocence.
Now a five-person Board of Inquiry will review the case and recommend whether or not Williams should be granted clemency. He was convicted of the high-profile murder of Felicia in 2001, with prosecutors arguing he killed her during a botched robbery.
The 42-year-old reporter with the St Louis Dispatch was in her home when she was stabbed 43 times with a butcher’s knife in August 1998.
Attorneys for Williams have argued he is innocent, pointing to new tests that they say produced “conclusive scientific evidence that another man committed this crime”. They say it shows that DNA belonging to someone else was found on the murder weapon. Florida is set to carry out its first execution for 19 months today of murderer and white supremacist Mark Asay, 53.