Marcellus Williams is scheduled to die by Lethal Injection on Tuesday at 6:00 PM. The Missouri Supreme Court did not grant Williams a stay and also stated it will not review evidence that his attorneys submitted to the state’s high court on August 14. The 48-year-old condemned inmate was sentenced to die for the 1998 stabbing death of Felicia Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter from 1981 to 1992.

Tuesday night, the state’s Supreme Court denied a petition by Williams’ lawyers. They asked the justices to review evidence that they claim is new and that can prove his innocence.

His attorneys contend that new testing of DNA from the knife “does not match Williams,” the Post-Dispatch reported. According to Boise State University biologist Greg Hampikian, who did an analysis of the knife, the DNA belongs to an “unknown male.”

Missouri Supreme Court rules against reviewing case

The state’s high court refused Williams’ lawyers request for the appointment of a special master to vacate their client’s death sentence. They sought to have his sentence commuted to a life term of imprisonment.

Williams’ execution was previously postponed in 2015 when his attorneys were granted extra time by the state’s high court to have DNA test conducted. Kent Gipson, Williams’ lawyer, has appealed the court’s decision to the U.S.

Supreme Court, the Post-Dispatch reported. Gipson is additionally asking Missouri Governor Eric Greitens “to intervene” by granting clemency, KBIA relayed. The governor’s spokesman, Parker Briden, stated that the governor is reviewing the case with his office’s legal team.

Gipson said not knowing the basis for the state Supreme Court declining to review the new evidence, appoint a special master, and vacate the death sentence “makes it more difficult” to appeal to the U.S.

Supreme Court, KBIA noted.

State’s top cop ‘confident’ death row inmate guilty

According to the Associated Press, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s spokeswoman said Hawley’s office is “confident” Williams “is guilty.” The belief is premised on other evidence.

Gayle was 42 when she was killed on August 11, 1998. She was at home in a gated neighborhood, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Prosecutors said she was taking a shower and surprised Williams when he was burglarizing her home. While fighting for her life, she was repeatedly stabbed. Williams went to trial and was found guilty by a jury verdict in 2001. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett M. O’Brien sentenced him to die.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court grants a stay of execution, the state will administer two vials of the sedative phenobarbital in carrying out capital punishment against Williams on Tuesday, according to KRCU.

Convicted killer maintains innocence

According to Williams’ lawyers, there is no forensic evidence linking their client to the killing. His attorneys further assert that the prosecution’s case was staked on conflicting testimony provided by Henry Cole, Williams’ former cellmate, and by Laura Asaro, Williams’ former girlfriend.

The condemned inmate’s attorneys additionally contend Cole and Asaro were “snitches” who are after a $10,000 reward, according to the Post-Dispatch. Williams’ lawyers stated that their client has maintained his innocence.
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