Archive for

October, 2024



When Innocence Isn’t Enough

On September 24, 2024, 55-year-old Marcellus “Kaliifah” Williams was executed by the State of Missouri for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle. He maintained his innocence from the beginning and for 23 years until his execution.

Though there was strong evidence of innocence in his case, including a crime scene covered with forensic evidence that contained no link to Mr. Williams; unreliable testimony provided by incentivized witnesses; racial bias in his jury selection, opposition to his execution from the victim’s family and the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney; and Mr. Williams’ willingness to accept an Alford plea for a sentence of life without parole so he could continue to fight for his freedom, he was executed because Missouri’s governor, attorney general, and state and federal courts did nothing to stop it.

Since January, St. Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell had sought to stop this execution, stating that new evidence suggested Williams was “actually innocent.”

In a statement following the execution, General Bell said, “Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline that decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”

The NAACP said Mr. Williams’ death harkened back to the days of racist terrorism.

“Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man,” the group stated in a post on X.  “Governor Parson had the responsibility to save this innocent life, and he didn’t. The NAACP was founded in 1909 in response to the barbaric lynching of Black people in America — we were founded exactly because of people like Governor Parson who perpetuate violence against innocent Black people. We will hold Governor Parson accountable. When DNA evidence proves innocence, capital punishment is not justice — it is murder.”

On October 17, Texas plans to execute Robert Roberson, a man with autism who has spent over 20 years on Texas’s death row for a crime that never happened. New evidence shows that Mr. Roberson’s daughter, Nikki, died of natural and accidental causes and that no crime occurred.

There is still time to stop this execution so that another man isn’t executed for something he didn’t do.

Sign the petition to urge Governor Abbott to stop Mr. Robertson’s execution. You can call the governor’s office at 361-264-9653.

Watch and share this video as Rev. Brian Wharton meets with Mr. Roberson for the first time since 2003, when Mr. Roberson was wrongfully convicted. Rev. Wharton played a crucial role in the prosecution of Mr. Roberson and now carries a burden for guilt for the part that he played in this miscarriage of justice.

The execution of one innocent person is one too many for the death penalty system to continue to exist.

We simply can’t trust this failed system to determine who lives and who dies. Enough.

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