Missouri executed a 55-year-old Black man on death row Tuesday even after a prosecutor in the case and the family of the victim said his life should be spared.
Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams was convicted in the 1998 killing of a former newspaper reporter, Lisha Gayle. He always maintained his innocence.
Gayle was killed in her St. Louis suburban home during a burglary. She was stabbed 43 times with a kitchen knife taken from the couple's home.
No DNA ever connected Williams to the crime scene. In recent months, a prosecutor in the case said the execution should have been called off , and in a clemency petition, Gayle's family said that they "define closure as Marcellus being allowed to live."
"Marcellus’ execution is not necessary," they said.
Even so, Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and the Missouri Supreme Court denied Williams clemency on Monday.
And on Tuesday with less than an hour before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop it, though the court's three liberal justices said they would have granted Williams a stay. The high court offered no explanation for the decision.
Williams was executed by lethal injection at 6:10 p.m. Tuesday. His son, Marcellus Williams Jr., told KSDK-TV : "This is a murder."
Currently, 21 states have capital punishment or the death penalty. Public polling suggests that the majority of U.S. adults support the death penalty for people convicted of murder.
Those opposed to the government executing people have concerns over how the death penalty is administered and are skeptical about whether it deters people committing serious crimes.
The American Civil Liberties Union considers the practice "barbaric, inequitable, and unjust."
Wisconsin was the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. Here's what to know about the history of capital punishment in Wisconsin and more.
Does Wisconsin have the death penalty?
No. Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853 after just one execution.
John McCaffrey of Kenosha was hanged after being convicted of killing his wife in 1850 in Kenosha .
What led to the end of the death penalty in Wisconsin?
The public reaction to McCaffrey's execution contributed to the success of a movement to end the death penalty in Wisconsin less than two years after his death — making the state the first to permanently abolish the death penalty for all crimes , according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Christopher Latham Sholes, the Kenosha Telegraph’s editor and a politician, personally witnessed McCaffrey's execution. He “stayed at the forefront of the struggle” to end capital punishment in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Magazine of History says .
In January 1852, Sholes was elected to the state Assembly, where in March 1853, lawmakers passed a bill abolishing the death penalty. The state Senate passed the bill in July 1853 and, that same month, Gov. Leonard Farwell signed it, bringing an end to the death penalty in Wisconsin.
Rhode Island temporarily ended the death penalty in 1852, but later reinstated it, and Michigan abolished the death penalty for all crimes except treason in 1847, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Has there been efforts to reinstate the death penalty in Wisconsin?
There have been several efforts to bring back the death penalty in Wisconsin, including when the details of Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer ’s crimes became known to the public. More than 20 bills for reinstatement were introduced by state lawmakers between 1991 and 1996, but none of them made it out of legislative committees.
In 2006, an advisory referendum showed 56% of Wisconsin voters were in favor of reinstating the death penalty. The state Legislature did not implement the popular vote. In 2013, a Marquette Law School poll showed 47% of Wisconsin voters supported reinstating the death penalty, while 51% opposed.
What states have the death penalty?
Twenty-one states still have the death penalty as a means of punishment for crimes. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Another six states have the death penalty, but no executions are taking place because the governor has prohibited them by executive order or the attorney general has temporarily halted them, including: Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
The U.S. government can also propose the death penalty for some federal crimes, including murder, treason and espionage. Also, U.S. military court has 15 offenses that can be punishable by death.
How often are people executed?
At more than 1,590 executions in the past five decades, the U.S. is a rarity among developed nations when it comes to the ultimate punishment, with more than 70% of nations globally having banned the practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center .
In 2020, for instance, only five other countries executed more of its citizens than the U.S.: China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to the center. Globally in 2023, the number of people put to death jumped by 30%, making it the deadliest year in nearly a decade, according to a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International.
Williams was the 15th person to die by the death penalty in the U.S. in 2024. Twenty-four people were executed for their crimes in 2023.
What are the means of execution?
Lethal injection has become the preferred method of carrying out executions but historically, hanging, firing squad, lethal gas and electrocution have been used.
Five states still use a firing squad if no lethal injection drugs are available, including Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina and Idaho, which reinstated firing squads last year. The last prisoner to be killed by firing squad happened in Utah in 2010.
What states don't have the death penalty?
Twenty-three states have abolished the death penalty. They are Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
As an alternative to capital punishment, many states have mandatory life sentences for certain serious crimes. In Wisconsin, Class A felonies carry a life sentence, including first-degree intentional homicide.
USA Today and the Appleton Post-Crescent contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Barbaric, inequitable, unjust': Wisconsin was the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes after just one execution
Local News
