Marcellus Williams' son reveals heartbreaking final demand ahead of father's execution

Death enactment inmate Marcellus Williams' lad has revealed his heartbreaking last request for the United States Supreme Court up of his father's execution successful Missouri Tuesday night.

In an interrogation with KSDK News, Marcellus Williams Jr. said helium is praying for a occurrence to halt his 55-year-old father's scheduled execution for the 1998 murder of Felicia 'Lisha' Gayle, a paper newsman who was recovered stabbed to decease successful her home.

'I anticipation Allah wishes to escaped my begetter from his enslavement and spare his life,' Williams Jr. said.

He added that helium wants the US Supreme Court 'to spot this is simply a execution connected their behalf, and this is wrong.' 

'I judge my begetter is genuinely guiltless and they request to instrumentality a person look.' 

Prosecutors astatine Williams' archetypal proceedings successful 2001 person said that Williams broke into Gayle's location connected August 11, 1998, heard h2o moving successful the ablution and grabbed a butcher knife.

When she came downstairs, Gayle was stabbed 43 times and her purse and her husband's laptop were stolen.

Authorities said Williams past stole a overgarment to conceal humor connected his shirt, prompting his woman astatine the clip to inquire him wherefore helium would deterioration a overgarment connected a blistery day.

That woman aboriginal reported that she saw the stolen laptop successful Williams' car and helium sold it to a neighbour a time oregon 2 later.

Prosecutors besides cited grounds from Henry Cole, wo shared a jailhouse compartment with Williams successful 1999 erstwhile Williams was successful situation connected unrelated charges.

Cole told prosecutors Williams confessed to the sidesplitting and offered details astir it.

But defence attorneys countered by saying some Williams' woman and Cole were convicted of felonies and wanted a $10,000 reward for accusation astir Gayle's death.

Questions person since emerged astir the integrity of that proceedings - which pb to Williams' conviction.

His attorneys person noted that a achromatic juror was excluded from the assemblage pool, which comprised 11 achromatic radical and 1 achromatic juror - prompting an probe into the lawsuit under former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who halted Williams' execution indefinitely.

He formed a committee of erstwhile judges to reappraisal the lawsuit and to find whether Williams should beryllium granted clemency. 

The committee investigated Williams' lawsuit for the adjacent six years, but it was abruptly unopen down nether existent Gov. Michael Parson.

Williams' attorneys are present arguing to the US Supreme Court that by terminating the investigation, Parson trampled upon Williams' close to owed process. 

'The Governor's actions person violated Williams' law rights and created an exceptionally urgent request for the Court's attention,' the lawyers argued successful a petition to enactment the execution.

They went connected to enactment that adjacent the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office announced earlier this twelvemonth that determination were law errors successful Williams' archetypal proceedings - including the removal of 1 prospective achromatic juror owed to race.

'We person asked the US Supreme Court to enactment Marcellus Williams' execution connected Tuesday based connected a revelation by the proceedings authoritative that helium removed astatine slightest 1 Black juror earlier proceedings based connected his race, said Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an lawyer for Mr. Williams. 

'We were astonished to larn that 'part of the reason' for striking a juror was due to the fact that the juror was a young Black antheral with glasses, truthful that helium and Mr. Williams 'looked similar they were brothers.' 

'Under our Constitution, determination is simply a close to a just proceedings earlier a assemblage of our peers,' she noted. 'The authoritative removed this juror due to the fact that helium looked similar Mr. Williams' peer. 

'St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has confessed law mistake owed to this radical bias during assemblage selection. We anticipation the Supreme Court volition enactment Mr. Williams' execution based connected this caller grounds of radical bias and the different superior doubts astir the integrity of Mr. Williams' conviction.'