Missouri executes Muslim prisoner Marcellus Williams despite Catholic protest

St. Louis, Mo., Sep 25, 2024 / 13:20 pm

Missouri executed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams on Tuesday evening for the brutal murder of a St. Louis journalist in 1998 despite significant local and national outcry from Catholics and others who begged state authorities not to carry out the execution, citing opposition to the death penalty and doubts about Williams’ guilt.

Williams, 55, died by lethal injection just after 6 p.m. local time. Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who has never granted clemency to a death row inmate during his governorship, declined to do so in Williams’ case, and the U.S. Supreme Court also rejected a plea brought by Williams’ attorneys. 

Felicia “Lisha” Gayle, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was found brutally stabbed dozens of times in her home in the St. Louis suburb of University City in 1998. 

Circumstantial evidence, including the discovery of several of Gayle’s personal belongings in Williams’ car, tied him to the break-in and murder, though none of his DNA was ever found on the murder weapon. Williams allegedly confessed to the murder to his girlfriend and a fellow inmate, but critics have questioned the veracity of those witnesses.

Williams, who was already serving jail time for two unrelated robberies, was charged with Gayle’s murder in 1999 and convicted in 2001. St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton upheld Williams’ conviction earlier this month.

Attorneys for Wiliams had argued before the state Supreme Court on Monday that Williams did not receive a fair criminal trial in part because of the racial makeup of the jury and the fact that the trial prosecutor struck at least one juror in part because the juror and Williams, who is Black, “looked like brothers.”

The Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty, even for those who have committed heinous crimes, constitutes an attack on human life and dignity. The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates for public policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, had encouraged Catholics to contact Parson to express their opposition to Williams’ execution. 

Led by the St. Louis Archdiocese’s Office of Peace and Justice, about 25 people protested the scheduled execution on Tuesday afternoon in downtown St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch reported. Outside the prison where the execution took place, about an hour south of St. Louis, more than 90 protesters gathered. 

Williams’ attorneys had recently pushed for his release after new DNA testing revealed at least two other people’s DNA on the knife used in the murder, although it later came to light that the DNA belonged to law enforcement professionals who had handled the knife without gloves.

Williams, a Muslim, had his imam with him during the execution. His final statement reportedly read, “All Praise Be To Allah In Every Situation!!!”

Missouri is among the most prolific of all U.S. states when it comes to the death penalty; it was one of only five states to carry out executions in 2023, carrying out four that year. In April, Parson denied a death row inmate’s clemency request despite protests from Catholics and others, clearing the way for the state’s first execution of 2024.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (CCC, No. 2267). 

The change reflects a development of Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty “cruel and unnecessary,” encouraged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life” and said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”