ST. LOUIS (AP) 鈥 Marcellus Williams thought the DNA evidence was enough to remove him from Missouri鈥檚 death row, perhaps even free him from prison. A decades-old mistake by a prosecutor鈥檚 office has kept his life hanging in the balance.
Williams, 55, is scheduled to be for the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle in the St. Louis suburb of University City. On Wednesday, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton presided over an evidentiary hearing challenging Williams鈥 guilt. He did not immediately issue a ruling but is expected to do so by mid-September.
The heart of Williams鈥 argument was DNA evidence that authorities recently determined was contaminated more than two decades ago by officials in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney鈥檚 Office.
Mishandling of the murder weapon was devastating for Williams because it 鈥渄estroyed his last and best chance鈥 to prove his innocence, said Jonathan Potts, an attorney for Williams.
The Missouri Attorney General's Office, which opposed a deal that would spare Williams' life but give him a life sentence, said other evidence points to his guilt.
鈥淭hey refer to the evidence as this case as being weak. It was overwhelming,鈥 Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane said.
At one point this year, it looked like Williams' conviction might be overturned. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed such a request in January, citing testing that found Williams' DNA was not on the murder weapon. That testing was not available when Williams was tried in 2001.
But subsequent tests determined the knife had been so mishandled in the aftermath of the killing that it would be impossible to identify the killer. With the DNA evidence spoiled, lawyers for Williams and the prosecutor鈥檚 office reached a compromise at an Aug. 21 hearing: Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole.
Hilton signed off on the agreement. So did Gayle鈥檚 family.
The Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 Office did not. At Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey鈥檚 urging, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the agreement and ordered Hilton to proceed with an evidentiary hearing.
Williams鈥 execution, now less than four weeks away, is still on. If Hilton rules against Williams, his attorneys are expected to file more appeals and seek clemency from Republican Gov. Mike Parson.
Testing found that DNA from Edward Magee, an investigator for the prosecutor鈥檚 office when Williams was tried, was on the knife. Testing also couldn鈥檛 exclude the original prosecutor who handled the case, Keith Larner.
Larner acknowledged Wednesday that he touched the knife at least five times, without gloves, while preparing for trial.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know of any other testing that could be done,鈥 Larner said.
Charlotte Word, an expert in forensic DNA testing, testified that because of how the knife was handled, it was impossible to know if Williams鈥 DNA had previously been on it.
allows prosecutors to ask a court to vacate a conviction they believe was unjust. Three other men 鈥 last month, and 鈥 have been freed after decades in prison under that law.
Williams has been close to execution before. In August 2017, just hours before his scheduled lethal injection, then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, after testing showed that DNA on the knife matched an unknown person.
That evidence prompted Bell to reexamine the case. A rising star in Missouri Democratic politics, in a primary this month and is heavily favored in the November general election.
Prosecutors at Williams鈥 trial said he broke into Gayle鈥檚 home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water running in the shower, and found a large butcher knife. When Gayle came downstairs, she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husband鈥檚 laptop were stolen. Gayle was a social worker who previously worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams鈥 girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and that Williams sold it a day or two later.
Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors Williams confessed to the killing and offered details about it.
Williams鈥 attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted felons out for a $10,000 reward.
Larner testified Wednesday that "they were the two strongest witnesses I鈥檝e ever had in a murder case.鈥
Williams is Black and Potts, Williams' attorney, questioned why the trial jury included just one Black juror. Larner said he struck just three potential Black jurors, including one whom he said looked like Williams.
Williams鈥 trial attorney, Joseph Green, told Hilton that when Williams was tried, he also was representing Kenneth Baumruk, who killed his wife in a courthouse shooting in 1992. That case took time away from working on Williams鈥 defense, Green 鈥 now a judge 鈥 said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe he got our best,鈥 Green said.
