Hearing to determine whether a Missouri death row inmate is innocent. His execution is scheduled for one month later

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri judge on Tuesday scheduled Aug. 21 for a hearing to determine whether Marcellus Williams is innocent of the murder that landed him on death row, a hearing that comes less than a month before Williams death is planned.

Williams, 55, was convicted of first-degree murder when he stabbed Lisha Gayle to death during a robbery at her home in a St. Louis suburb in 1998. He was Hours before the execution in August 2017 When he was granted a reprieve after tests that were not available at the time of the murder showed that the DNA on the knife matched that of another person and not Williams.

Questions about DNA evidence prompted St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell submit an application in January the reversal of the murder conviction. The new hearing date was set in response to Bell’s request. Meanwhile, Williams’ execution is scheduled for September 24 at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

A 2021 Missouri law allows prosecutors to file a motion to overturn a conviction if they believe an inmate may be innocent or has been wrongly convicted on other grounds.

Typically, the judge takes several weeks after the hearing concludes to weigh the evidence. In this case, it’s not certain whether St. Louis County District Judge Bruce Hilton will rule on the innocence claim before the execution date — raising the possibility that Missouri could execute a man a judge later declares innocent.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office opposes the attempt to overturn the murder conviction. Bailey’s office did not immediately respond to an email asking whether Bailey would seek to stay the execution until a decision is made on the innocence claim.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an attorney with the Midwest Innocence Project, urged the state to stay the execution.

“The Attorney General should not try to block the court’s review, and the Missouri Supreme Court should stay Mr. Williams’ execution,” Bushnell said in an email.

The Missouri Supreme Court set the execution date for June 4, hours after ruling that Republican Governor Mike Parson was right to dissolved a committee of inquiry convened six years earlier by Parsons’ predecessor.

Governor Eric Greitens, also a Republican, stopped the execution in 2017 just hours before it was due to take place, citing DNA evidence. The investigative committee he appointed consisted of five retired judges.

The board has not made a decision, reached a conclusion, or issued a report. Parson dissolved the board in June 2023, saying it was time to “look forward.”

Since the law’s passage in 2021, the murder convictions of two men who each spent decades in prison have been overturned, and a third case remains pending several weeks after a hearing.

In 2021 Kevin Strickland was released after more than 40 years in prison for triple murder in Kansas City after a judge ruled that he was wrongfully convicted in 1979In 2023, a judge in St. Louis overturned the conviction of Lamar Johnsonwho served nearly 28 years for a murder he always said he had not committed.

A judge in St. Louis is still weighing the fate of Christopher Dunn after a hearing in May. Dunn served 33 years in prison for shooting a 15-year-old boy in 1990.

Williams is the first death row inmate to have his innocence heard before a Missouri judge – an “unprecedented situation,” Bell said in a statement. But another death row inmate was released two decades ago.

Joseph Amrine spent 17 years on death row before being released in 2003 after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that there was no credible evidence linking him to the killing of another inmate. Key testimony against Amrine came from three former inmates, all of whom later recanted their statements. Prosecutors subsequently decided not to retry him.

Prosecutors said at the time of the crime that on August 11, 1998, Williams broke a window to get into Gayle’s house, heard water running in the shower and found a large butcher knife. When Gayle came down the stairs, she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen. Gayle was a social worker and had previously worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to hide blood on his shirt. Williams’ girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and Williams sold it a day or two later.

Prosecutors also relied on the testimony of Henry Cole, who was incarcerated with Williams in a St. Louis cell in 1999 while Williams was incarcerated on other charges. Cole told prosecutors that Williams confessed to the murder and provided details about it.

Williams’ lawyers responded that the girlfriend and Cole were convicted felons with a $10,000 reward.

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Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report.