Exonerees call on Missouri Republican attorney general to stop fighting innocence claims

Source: Associated Press

Exonerees call on Missouri Republican attorney general to stop fighting innocence claims

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Updated 5:22 PM EDT, August 1, 2024

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Exonerees and advocates on Thursday called out Missouri’s Republican attorney general for pushing for a man’s impending execution despite efforts by the local prosecutor to overturn the man’s murder conviction.

Marcellus Williams is scheduled to die Sept. 24, roughly a month after a planned Aug. 21 hearing before a St. Louis County court judge to determine whether he’s innocent.

Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office had asked judges to stop the hearing, arguing that the state Supreme Court had rejected Williams’ innocence claims twice.

“At bottom, the evidence supporting conviction at trial was overwhelming,” attorneys for the state wrote in a June motion that was denied.

Ray Krone, a co-founder of Witness to Innocence, a group that advocates for death row prisoners who might have been wrongfully convicted, called on Bailey to “reverse course” and “support people with serious innocence claims, like Mr. Williams.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/missouri-execution-marcellus-williams-andrew-bailey-36783535dbfdcd5365af763cd2dce180