Marcellus Williams Asks SCOTUS to Stay His Execution Based on New Evidence of Racial Bias in Jury Selection

Case update from Sept. 24: Missouri executed Marcellus Williams. 

(September 23, 2023) Today, Marcellus Williams asked the United States Supreme Court to stay his execution based on newly disclosed admissions by the trial prosecutor that he removed at least one Black prospective juror based on his race. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has confessed constitutional error in Mr. Williams’ case based on the new evidence of racial bias during jury selection, among other issues. Mr. Williams is scheduled to be executed tomorrow evening in Missouri despite serious doubts about the integrity of his conviction and overwhelming support for his clemency request.

Mr. Williams’ stay motion states:

“Astonishingly, at the evidentiary hearing on the Motion to Vacate held in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County on August 28, 2024, the trial prosecutor, on the stand and testifying under an adversarial process for the first time in this case’s history, admitted that he had struck Venireperson 64 because like Mr. Williams, Venireperson 64 was Black.

“He proclaimed that “part of the reason” for his peremptory strike was because the Venireperson 64, a Black man, looked like Mr. Williams, also a Black man, and that the venireperson’s race was not “necessarily the full reason” he thought the venireperson and Mr. Williams looked so similar. He also declared that Venireperson 64 and Mr. Williams “looked like they were brothers.”’ (Stay Motion, p. 3)

Mr. Williams is asking the Supreme Court to consider whether this newly discovered evidence of racial bias in jury selection warrants reopening his federal habeas corpus proceedings. The Eighth Circuit rejected this claim on Saturday.

Today’s appeal to the Supreme Court and stay motion can be accessed here:

Batson/Rule 60(b) Petition for Writ of Certiorari (Case No. 24-5606)

Batson/Rule 60(b) Application for Stay of Execution (Case No. 24A286)

This morning, the Missouri Supreme Court heard oral argument on the Prosecuting Attorney’s appeal from the circuit court’s denial of his motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction and death sentence.

More information about Mr. Williams’ innocence case appears below. His execution is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Central Time tomorrow. Governor Parson has yet to act on his pending clemency petition, which has garnered overwhelming, bipartisan support from across Missouri and the rest of the country.