Missouri Supreme Court Refuses to Reschedule Marcellus Williams’ Execution Date After Innocence Hearing Set

(July 12, 2024) Today, the Missouri Supreme denied a motion seeking to withdraw the September 24 execution date for Marcellus Williams, an innocent man on death row. Mr. Williams had moved the court to reconsider its order scheduling his execution after the St. Louis County Circuit Court set a hearing for August 21 on the county prosecuting attorney’s motion to vacate Mr. Williams’s wrongful conviction. Prosecuting Attorney Bell filed that motion to vacate based on new DNA evidence that proves Mr. Williams was not the source of male DNA on the murder weapon.

Additional information about the flimsy case that led to Mr. Williams’s conviction and the overwhelming evidence supporting his innocence claim appears below.

Below is a statement from Tricia Bushnell, an attorney for Marcellus Williams:

“We will continue to pursue justice in the circuit court. We are confident that any court, when presented with all the evidence — including the DNA evidence — will come to the same conclusion as St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell: that Marcellus Williams is innocent and his conviction must be overturned. No court has ever held a hearing to consider all of the exculpatory evidence of innocence. There is still time to right this wrong. No one wants to see Missouri execute an innocent man.”

Tricia Bushnell, attorney for Marcellus Williams
July 12, 2024

The Missouri Supreme Courts’ order is available here.

Read more about Marcellus Williams’s case at www.savemarcellus.org or www.marcelluswilliams.org.