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Missouri governor halts execution in light of DNA evidence

Just hours before Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams was to be executed, the governor has intervened and halted the action in light of new DNA evidence that raises questions about Williams’ guilt, the AP reports.

In a flurry of last-ditch appeals, Williams’ lawyers had been begging Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens or the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene before the execution, originally scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. Central Time, arguing that new DNA evidence proves he is innocent of the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle. Williams has maintained his innocence since he was convicted in 2001, but the Missouri Supreme Court denied his request for a hearing about the new evidence in January.

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Gayle, a former reporter at the St. Louis Dispatch, was stabbed more than 40 times in her home, and the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, was left lodged in her body. The new DNA test of the knife’s handle returned results for an unknown man, excluding Williams. Other physical evidence from the crime scene including bloody footprints and hairs do not correspond to Williams.

Jurors at the trial — all white except for one — heard from Williams’ cellmate, who said Williams had confessed to the crime, and Williams’ ex-girlfriend, who said the same. The ex-girlfriend led investigators to Williams’ car where they found property belonging to Gayle. Gayle’s laptop was recovered from a man who says Williams sold it to him.

“The property doesn’t mean he committed the murder,” Tricia Bushnell, of the Midwest Innocence Project, said. “The question is did Williams commit this murder, not did he sell a stolen laptop.”

Williams’ lawyer, Kent Gipson, asserts that both the ex-girlfriend and the cellmate were after a $10,000 reward.

“The physical evidence, particularly the new DNA evidence, exonerates Mr. Williams,” Gipson’s brief to the Supreme Court reads. “What’s left is dubious testimony, which is largely inconsistent with the physical evidence, and which was procured in consideration for a cash reward.”

The St. Louis Dispatch, Gayle’s prior employer, published an editorial Tuesday morning calling on the governor or the Supreme Court to intervene. “If the state must execute, there must be no room for doubt,” the editorial said.

The governor apparently had some doubt. “A sentence of death is the ultimate, permanent punishment. To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt. In light of new information, I am appointing a Board of Inquiry in this case,” he said in a statement.