Marcellus Williams, 55, who had been scheduled to be put to
death next month, will enter what is known as an "Alford plea"
to a first-degree murder charge on Thursday as part of a deal
with prosecutors that vacates his original conviction.
The plea allows Williams to continue to maintain his innocence,
as he has done since the murder, while forgoing a new trial and
accepting the recommended sentence.
In an order, Judge Bruce Hilton in St. Louis County Circuit
Court said that the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney's office
conceded there were "constitutional errors" during the trial
that "undermine confidence" in the verdict. He also noted that
the family of the victim, Felicia "Lisha" Gayle, did not wish
for Williams to be executed.
Gayle was stabbed 43 times in her suburban home, and Williams
was convicted in 2001 largely on the testimony of two witnesses
whom prosecutors have now described in court papers as
"unreliable."
Prosecutors had initially concluded that DNA tests excluded
Williams. Additional testing, however, found the lead
investigator's DNA on the knife, which suggested the weapon had
been mishandled and contaminated at the time but did not
definitively exclude Williams.
Williams' attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement
that no reliable evidence has ever connected her client to the
crime.
"Marcellus Williams is an innocent man, and nothing about
today's plea agreement changes that fact," she said in a
statement. "By agreeing to an Alford plea, the parties will
bring a measure of finality to Felicia Gayle's family, while
ensuring that Mr. Williams will remain alive as we continue to
pursue new evidence to prove, once and for all, that he is
innocent."
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey opposed the court's
decision, arguing that the evidence used to convict Williams
remained undisturbed. A spokesperson for the St. Louis
Prosecuting Attorney said the office expects Bailey to appeal
Wednesday's decision.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Josie Kao)
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