Marcellus Williams, a 55-year-old Black man, is scheduled to be executed in Missouri on September 24, 2024. He was convicted by an almost all-white jury in 2001 of the 1998 murder of a white woman and sentenced to death. The primary evidence at trial was informant testimony provided by two individuals incentivized by reward money and the possibility of leniency on their own charges. None of the forensic evidence ties Marcellus Williams to the crime. Male DNA on the murder weapon that was not his was contaminated by officials, meaning it cannot be used to identify a possible perpetrator. We urge Missouri governor to grant clemency and commute Marcellus Williams’s death sentence.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: September 24, 2024
take action:
- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
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contact information:
Governor Michael L. Parson
Capitol Building, Room 216. PO Box 720
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, USA
Webform: https://governor.mo.gov/contact-us
Fax: +1 573 751 1495
sample letter:
Dear Governor,
Marcellus Williams is due to be executed on September 24, 2024, despite the efforts of the St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney to have the conviction vacated. I am appealing for your intervention to stop the execution.
At his trial, the prosecutor dismissed six of the seven Black would-be jurors. The jury comprised of 11 white people and one Black person. Furthermore, a US District Court in 2010 ordered that Marcellus Williams receive a new sentencing hearing, having found that his trial lawyer had failed to present any mitigating evidence of Marcellus Williams’s violently abusive childhood. That decision was reversed by a divided Court of Appeals.
The prosecution’s case relied primarily on the testimony of two informant witnesses whose family and friends have since signed affidavits that both were known police informants, with a history of lying to seek leniency in their own cases, who were also incentivized by the prospect of reward money. Three DNA experts have concluded independently of each other that Marcellus Williams was not the source for male DNA on the murder weapon. However, this DNA evidence that could have helped to exonerate him was contaminated by prosecutorial mishandling of the evidence at trial.
International standards prohibit execution of anyone whose guilt is not based on “clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts”. This standard has not been met. There is strong evidence that the integrity of the trial in Marcellus Williams’s case was undermined by racially discriminatory jury selection tactics and ineffective defense representation. Therefore, I urge you to grant clemency and to commute Marcellus Williams’s death sentence.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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