(AP) – St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch says he is confident
that a board of inquiry will confirm that the conviction and death penalty are
appropriate for a condemned inmate whose life was spared hours before he was
scheduled to die.Marcellus Williams was set to be executed Tuesday evening for fatally stabbing
Lisha Gayle during a 1998 burglary at her suburban St. Louis home. But
Republican Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens granted a stay of execution after
Williams’ attorneys cited DNA evidence found on the murder weapon that matched
another unknown person, but not Williams.
that a board of inquiry will confirm that the conviction and death penalty are
appropriate for a condemned inmate whose life was spared hours before he was
scheduled to die.Marcellus Williams was set to be executed Tuesday evening for fatally stabbing
Lisha Gayle during a 1998 burglary at her suburban St. Louis home. But
Republican Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens granted a stay of execution after
Williams’ attorneys cited DNA evidence found on the murder weapon that matched
another unknown person, but not Williams.
Greitens says he will appoint a five-member board of inquiry to recommend
whether Williams should be executed.
McCulloch said in a statement that courts have repeatedly upheld Williams’
conviction and sentence.
Kent Gipson, Williams’ attorney, called the governor’s decision “the
appropriate thing to do.”
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