As a Black woman studying criminology, I’ve learned more about the system's failure to serve people of color. One of the most troubling examples of the system's failure to serve people of color is the execution of Marcellus Williams. It stands out to me because if prosecutors are supposed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, why was Marcellus Williams convicted in the first place? This is what everyone should be questioning.

On September 24, 2024, Marcellus Williams was executed for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle after the prosecuting office that convicted him petitioned the courts to vacate his conviction. DNA testing had also concluded he was not the source of DNA on the murder weapon. Ms. Gayle's family advocated for an execution stay (Al Jazeera, 2024; Innocence Project, 2024). Nonetheless, it did not matter to Missouri, and the state still moved forward with the execution.

The doubts came from within the system, not from outside sources! The same prosecutor who convicted Williams admitted under oath that he dismissed prospective jurors who were Black, and Williams was convicted by eleven White jurors and one Black juror. The prosecutor's office employees left the murder weapon unprotected and handled it in a way that eliminated the chance to identify anyone else involved (National Public Radio, 2024).

With that being said, twenty-seven states have the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center [DPI], 2026b). Florida runs the most executions in 2026, with Texas a distant second (DPI, 2026a). NONE of these states has a system in place to stop executions when the prosecutors who secured a conviction come to doubt it. Studies show this case is part of a systemic pattern: In seventeen South Carolina capital trials, prosecutors employed differential questioning techniques for Black and White prospective jurors (Effenberger et al., 2023). White male jurors show diminished empathy for Black defendants (Lynch & Haney, 2011). Jurors who show racial bias are more likely to sentence a Black defendant to death, compared to a White defendant, if the cases are identical (Gasperetti, 2022). Official misconduct is a significant contributor to wrongful convictions, and Black exonerees are disproportionately its victims (Drummond & Mills, 2020).

There can be adjustments to a prison sentence. There can't be adjustments to an execution. The rules need to be changed before the next execution, not after!

What We Are Asking For

We are asking Governors Kehoe, DeSantis, and Abbott, and the governors of all other states that carry out executions, to support legislation that includes:

Halting executions when a prosecutor files a motion to vacate. If the office that first convicted the defendant now acknowledges that the conviction is questionable, then an execution should not be carried out in the absence of a comprehensive hearing by an independent judicial authority. There should be no possibility for other state officials to override that authority. 

Requiring jury selection audits in capital cases. Prosecutors' offices should track and publish the race of jurors removed in death penalty cases. This will allow prosecutors to identify potential bias before trial, rather than argue about bias after the fact!

Shifting the burden once doubt is raised. After the prosecution has introduced credible evidence of innocence or bias, the burden should shift to the state to prove the reliability of the conviction before an execution may proceed.

Why Your Signature Is Important!

Gayle's family pleaded for reconsideration. The prosecutor's office pleaded for reconsideration. Both were rejected in Missouri. You don't have to be anti-death penalty to sign this petition! All that is needed is the belief that no one deserves to be put to death when the state's prosecutors doubt the defendant's guilt. Please sign and circulate this petition to protect other families and other accused persons in every state from having to endure what Gayle's family and Marcellus Williams endured!

Justice for Marcellus Williams and Felicia Gayle means not allowing racism to decide a case!

References

Al Jazeera. (2024, September 25). Marcellus Williams executed in Missouri despite conviction doubts. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/25/marcellus-williams-executed-in-missouri-despite-conviction-doubts

Death Penalty Information Center. (2026a). Florida's outlier status: Thirteen of the nation's twenty-three executions in 2026 even as executions elsewhere decline. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/floridas-outlier-status-thirteen-of-the-nations-twenty-three-executions-in-2026-even-as-executions-elsewhere-decline

Death Penalty Information Center. (2026b). State by state. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state

Drummond, C. B., & Mills, M. N. (2020). Addressing official misconduct: Increasing accountability in reducing wrongful convictions. The Wrongful Conviction Law Review, 1(3), 270–290. https://doi.org/10.29173/wclawr34

Effenberger, A., Blume, J. H., & Wells, M. T. (2023). Quantifying disparate questioning of Black and White jurors in capital jury selection. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 20(3), 609–640. https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12357

Gasperetti, M. A. (2022). Crime and punishment: An empirical study of the effects of racial bias on capital sentencing decisions. University of Miami Law Review, 76(2), 501–560.

Innocence Project. (2024). Marcellus Williams. https://innocenceproject.org/cases/marcellus-williams/