ST. LOUIS COUNTY — The prosecuting attorney will appeal a judge's ruling issued last week that upheld the 2001 murder conviction of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, who is set to be executed in one week.
A notice to appeal was filed Monday night by attorney Matthew Jacober, special counsel for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell's office.
Williams has unsuccessfully appealed and challenged his first-degree murder conviction for more than two decades, ultimately taking the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.
In January, Bell’s office filed to vacate Williams’ conviction, arguing he was innocent.
Then in August, St. Louis County Judge Bruce heard hours of testimony rehashing evidence in former Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia “Lisha” Gayle Picus’ brutal 1998 stabbing in a University City home in a gated neighborhood.
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The hearing focused on contamination of DNA on the murder weapon, potential racial bias in the jury selection and, in Williams’ lawyer’s view, the unreliable witnesses on which much of his case hung.
Hilton, who reviewed over 12,000 pages of evidence, said that Williams’ claim of innocence “unraveled” when an Aug. 19 DNA report showed the DNA profiles on the murder weapon were consistent with the prosecutor and investigator on the original case — which contradicted previous claims that the killer's DNA was on the knife and would prove Williams was innocent.
“(Williams’) remaining evidence amounts to nothing more than re-packaged arguments about evidence that was available at trial and involved in Williams’ unsuccessful direct appeal and post-conviction challenges,” Hilton wrote in his ruling. “(Williams) has failed to demonstrate any basis for this court to find Williams actually innocent of first-degree murder.”
Williams and his defense team have maintained his innocence, and have repeatedly pointed out that no physical evidence connects him to the crime other than a stolen laptop he sold to a neighbor.
He is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24.