Missouri inmate facing execution is 'loving father' whose DNA was not found on murder weapon

A Missouri death row inmate scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the fatal 1998 stabbing of a former reporter has claimed his innocence, saying he was never forensically linked to the murder.

Marcellus Williams, 55, is the third inmate to be executed in Missouri this year and the 15th or 16th nationwide, depending on whether he is declared dead before or after Travis James Mullis, another inmate scheduled for execution the same day in Texas. Two more consecutive executions will take place Thursday in Alabama and Oklahoma.

Williams was convicted of murdering Lisha Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who was stabbed to death during a break-in at the home where she lived with her husband.

The St. Louis County District Attorney's Office supports Williams' claims of innocence and recently filed a motion to overturn his conviction – a motion that was approved by a district judge but quickly challenged by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. The case was sent back to the same judge for a hearing, and on Sept. 12, he reversed his decision.

Meanwhile, those who believe in Williams' innocence continue to fight for a reprieve.

As Williams' execution approaches, USA TODAY spoke with his lawyers and takes a look back at the crime and the man's identity.

More about what Marcellus Williams was convicted of

On the morning of August 11, 1998, Gayle was in the shower when Williams broke into her home on a private, gated street, according to police.

The 42-year-old woman left the second-floor bathroom and walked down the stairs when she encountered Williams on the landing, according to police. At one point, she was stabbed 43 times with a kitchen knife taken from the house.

Later that night, Gayle's husband, Daniel Picus, found his wife's body and called 911. Evidence police collected included bloody shoe prints and fingerprints, a knife sheath, and the suspect's hair collected from Gayle's shirt, hands, and the floor. Missing from the house were Gayle's purse and jacket, as well as her husband's laptop.

Since the suspect's name had not yet been determined, Gayle's family offered a $10,000 reward in May 1999 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Not long afterward, an inmate named Henry Cole and Williams' girlfriend, Lara Asaro, named Williams as the perpetrator. At the time of his conviction, Williams had just begun a 20-year prison sentence for robbing a downtown St. Louis doughnut shop.

There was no forensic evidence linking Williams to the crime scene, but a jury found him guilty of murder and burglary.

Williams' lawyers argued that both informants benefited from their cooperation with prosecutors and that their statements sometimes changed or contradicted other details of the murder. Both witnesses have since died.

More about who Williams is

Williams was born on December 30, 1968, in South Bend, Indiana, and moved to St. Louis with his mother and two brothers when he was about five years old.

Williams grew up in an impoverished and dysfunctional household where he was exposed to alcohol, drugs and guns at a young age, court records show. He was violently sexually and physically abused by some family members, abandoned by his parents and his family condoned criminal behavior and drug abuse, records say.

The death of his older brother in 1997 deeply affected Williams, as his brother had been a father figure to him, court records show. That same year, Williams burglarized a home and spent time in prison before being convicted of stealing the Donut Shot in 1998.

Williams' lawyers presented evidence during the sentencing hearing in the murder trial that he was “a caring and loving father.”

Several of Williams' family members and friends, including his son and stepdaughter, testified to Williams' positive relationship with the children and said his execution “would have a significant impact on his family.”

During his imprisonment, Williams devoted much of his time to studying Islam and writing poetry, according to the Innocence Project.

Williams was scheduled to be executed twice, but both executions were stopped.

Williams was scheduled to be executed in January 2015 and August 2017.

Both lethal injections were paused to allow for further DNA testing and investigation. The final stay of execution was ordered by then-Governor Eric Greiten, who appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the case.

But in the summer of 2023, newly sworn-in Governor Mike Parson dissolved the panel and lifted the stay. The court, Parsons said, would decide Williams' fate, and the Missouri Supreme Court issued a third execution warrant for Williams.

What did Williams argue in his appeals?

In January, Williams' lawyers filed a motion to overturn the conviction and sentence.

On August 21, District Attorney Wesley Bell's office and Williams' attorneys reached an agreement that would allow Williams to enter a new, unconditional guilty plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence without parole. The victim's husband, Daniel Picus, signed the guilty plea.

Although Bell moved to overturn Williams' murder conviction, state Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that it should stand and ordered St. Louis County District Judge Bruce Hilton to hold an evidentiary hearing on the matter. He granted the motion.

The defense, Bailey said, “created a false narrative of innocence to get a convicted murderer off death row and achieve their political goals.”

During the August 28 hearing, the retired prosecutor who handled the case admitted that evidence was mishandled in the 1998 trial that could have led to Williams' exoneration.

But on September 12, Hilton declined to overturn Williams' conviction and sentence, despite questions about DNA evidence on the knife used in the attack. On appeal, his defense team presented evidence that DNA taken from the knife revealed an unknown male profile and did not match Williams.

“There is no basis for a court to find Williams innocent, and no court has made such a finding,” wrote St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton. “Williams is guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death.”

Williams' attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, told USA TODAY that her client's defense team will continue to appeal and seek clemency.

Unless the courts or the governor intervene, Williams' execution is expected to take place this week.

Williams is one of five men executed in less than a week

Williams is one of five men scheduled to be executed in the United States within six days. The first was Freddie Owens, who was executed in South Carolina on Friday after new doubts arose about his guilt.

On Tuesday, at the same time as Williams' execution, Travis James Mullis is scheduled to be executed in Texas for the murder of his young son.

Following the double execution on Tuesday, two more executions are expected to take place in a row on Thursday. In Alabama, Alan Eugene Miller, who shot three of his colleagues in 1999, is to be executed with nitrogen gas, despite evidence of his mental illness and a witness to the previous execution by nitrogen gas in January calling the method “gruesome.”

Also on Thursday, Emmanuel Littlejohn is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma for the 1992 death of a supermarket clerk, although Littlejohn claims he was not the shooter.

If all five executions are carried out, the United States will have executed 18 death row inmates this year. Six more executions are planned by the end of December, and more could be added.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marcellus Williams, facing execution, says there was no DNA on knife used