Marcellus Williams's Last Words Before His Execution Were a Declaration of Faith
Marcellus Williams was not granted clemency by the governor or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Published Sept. 25 2024, 9:37 a.m. ET
The case of Marcellus Williams has received national attention in the days leading up to his execution on Sept. 24. The news that the state of Missouri executed Marcellus for a crime that prosecutors say he did not commit has many outraged, and just as many wanting to learn more about Marcellus's life and his case.
Among the details of Marcellus's life that many are curious about, some want to know what his last words were prior to dying by lethal injection. Here's what we know about what his parting message was.
What were Marcellus Williams's last words?
According to reporting in Newsweek, Marcellus's last words prior to his execution were "All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation!!!" which he hand-wrote. He submitted that statement to prison officials in the days before his execution, and ate a last meal of chicken wings and tater tots shortly before 11 a.m. He was also visited by Imam Jalahii Kacem, who accompanied him to the execution room.
Marcellus was in prison following his 2001 conviction for the murder of Felicia Gayle, a social worker and former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's office urged officials to call off Marcellus's execution over concerns around jury selection and the possibility that racial bias had played a role in his verdict. DNA evidence found at the crime scene also did not match Marcellus's DNA.
"Even for those who disagree on the death penalty, when there is a shadow of a doubt of any defendant's guilt, the irreversible punishment of execution should not be an option," St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement.
The governor of Missouri declined to stay his execution, though, as did the Missouri Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mike Parsons, the current governor of Missouri, said that the Prosecuting Attorney's office was trying to "muddy the waters" by discussing DNA evidence, and added that nothing from the facts of the case led him to believe that Marcellus was innocent. Felicia's family also asked the governor to grant clemency, even though they believe that he was guilty of her murder.
Could the president have pardoned Marcellus Williams?
Although the president has the power to pardon people, he can only pardon them for federal crimes. Because Marcellus was accused and convicted at the state level, the governor was the person with the authority to grant him clemency or stay his execution, and he declined to exercise that authority in Marcellus's case.
Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Marcellus's attorney, said that Missouri would be executing an innocent man.
"That is not justice," she said. "And we must all question any system that would allow this to occur. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri's obsession with 'finality' over truth, justice, and humanity, at any cost."
"Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri's grotesque exercise of state power," she added. "Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue."