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Missouri is about to execute a man even the prosecution believes is innocent

Marcellus Williams, whose murder conviction was questioned by a prosecutor, died by lethal injection Tuesday evening in Missouri after the US Supreme Court denied a stay.

Williams’ attorneys filed a flurry of appeal efforts based on what they describe as new evidence – including alleged bias in jury selection and contamination of the murder weapon prior to trial. But that effort unraveled at a circuit court hearing last month, after new DNA testing revealed the murder weapon had been mishandled prior to the 2001 trial – contaminating the evidence meant to exonerate Williams and complicating his quest to prove his innocence. “In this case, a new round of DNA testing proved the office was right all along; the knife in question has been handled by many actors, including law enforcement, since being found,” Attorney General Andrew Bailey said.

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