Posted on 08/22/2017 5:59:02 PM PDT by Ennis85
The governor of Missouri has issued a stay of execution for a death row inmate and appointed a panel to investigate his conviction. The order came only hours before Marcellus Williams, 48, was due to be put to death for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, a newspaper reporter. "A sentence of death is the ultimate, permanent punishment," Governor Eric Greitens said in a statement.
Lawyers for Williams say someone else's DNA is on the murder weapon. "To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt," wrote Governor Greitens. "In light of new information, I am appointing a Board of Inquiry in this case," the governor wrote only hours before the lethal injection execution was due. Lawyers for the state argue that despite Williams's DNA not being present on the weapon, other witnesses' testimonies are still sufficient evidence to convict him.
The Missouri Attorney General's office has said that "based on the other, non-DNA, evidence in this case, our office is confident in Marcellus Williams' guilt and plans to move forward". Gayle was brutally murdered in her own home, where she was stabbed 43 times with a butcher's knife, court records show.
Williams' lawyers, in a briefing presented to the US Supreme Court on Monday night, argue that DNA found on the knife used to kill Gayle belongs to another man. The execution decision is still ultimately up to the governor, who will make his determination after the five-person panel's work is completed.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I thought it was already reviewed by a 12 person panel.
Good... There should be absolutely no question as to guilt. And it seems as if there is.
Agree fully with you post 3.
White lives don’t matter.
The non-DNA information in this case is overwhelming.
I thought the OJ Simpson case ended any use of DNA to convict Blacks?
The knife was from the victim's home.
The DNA could have been a family member or guest.
Lots of other clear cut evidence.
Too many Crackers.
Wow...to have your life ruined..and be innocent...horrible.
I’m pro-death penalty, but I’m glad that WI here abolished it. All the death penalty does is delay justice deserved for the victims. With life in prison, the victim gets to think about what he did and the loss of freedom until his dying breath. Personally, I think solitary confinement is the harshest punishment available, even better than actual death.
I have delivered ‘stays of execution.’
Shouldn’t this be a ‘writ?’
Any halfway-competent burglar would have worn gloves, thus ensuring his fingerprints (and DNA) would not be found.
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