Marcellus Williams was executed last month. His victim's family tried to stop it.

Felicia Gayle was stabbed 42 times in her Missouri home in 1998 with her own kitchen knife, in a crime that left her community shocked.

The vicious nature of the murder in a quiet neighbourhood mainly frequented by academics and professionals, had police under intense pressure to find the 42-year-old social worker and former journalist's killer.

So when a prison snitch gave them a name and a 'full confession' from a man with an extensive record, they were relieved.

Watch: Did America just execute an innocent man? Post continues.

Marcellus Williams had been in and out of prison and already had more than a dozen convictions for mainly robbery offences when he was arrested for Felicia's murder.

Police also had a confession via his ex-girlfriend, and had found Felicia's purse and laptop in William's grandfather's car.

But the 'evidence' they used to convict Marcellus in 2001, and sentence him to death, wasn't as it seemed.

For one, both of the witnesses came out of the woodwork after Felicia's husband offered a $10,000 reward.

Felicia Gayle was murdered in her home in 1998. Image: Find A Grave.

As the Innocence Project pointed out, "Both of these individuals were known fabricators; neither revealed any information that was not either included in media accounts about the case or already known to the police. Their statements were inconsistent with their own prior statements, with each other's accounts, and with the crime scene evidence, and none of the information they provided could be independently verified."

The only other evidence tying Williams to the crime was a witness who said he sold him Felicia's laptop. But the jury did not learn that Williams told the witness he had received the laptop from Laura Asaro, the ex-girlfriend who dobbed him in.

As host of the Last Minute Remaining podcast Jack Laurence told Mamamia's True Crime Conversations, "they call it hearsay. So hearsay is him saying, 'Marcellus has told me that he got it from his girlfriend'. He didn't see Marcellus get it from his girlfriend… that's just what Marcellus has told him. So the judge said it's not allowed, but for me, it's a very important factor of that case."

It becomes even more important when you undertand that the car Felicia's belongings were found in (that belonged to William's grandfather), was actually being used by his Asaro to both sleep in and conduct her sex work out of.

"It's not so far fetched that that laptop could have been given to Marcellus' former partner, as a form of payment for the work she was doing. Because we know for a fact she was living in his car. We know for a fact she was working out of his car. It just blows my mind that they're so willing to just draw a line under the sand and make it that final when there is still reasonable doubt," said Laurence.

Listen: To the full chat with Jack Laurence. Post continues after podcast.

To make matters even murkier the perpetrator left behind considerable forensic evidence at the crime scene, including fingerprints, hair and trace DNA on the murder weapon. None of which matched Williams.

The fight to save William's life.

By the end, the prosecution (who got Williams locked up in the first place) and the victim's family were both trying to get him off death row.

Williams had already been given a death date twice, in 2015, and 2017, but had been given last minute stays of execution.

The 2017 stay was ordered after improved DNA testing revealed the source of male DNA that was found on the murder weapon belonged to a member of law enforcement who had handled the knife during trial, not Williams.

Then-Governor Eric Greitens recognised the doubts this cast on the conviction and ordered a Board of Inquiry investigate.

The inquiry was to also look at claims of racial discrimination, after it was revealed the then prosecutor struck six of seven Black prospective jurors for William's trial, leaving him with a jury of 11 white members and one Black member.

Even the victim's family didn't want Marcellus Williams to die. Image: William's lawyers.

However in June 2023, while the Inquiry's review remained ongoing, the new Governor Mike Parson dissolved the Board without a report or recommendation and a new execution date was immediately sought.

As the September 2024 date approached, the prosecution filed a 63-page motion to vacate Williams's conviction in January, citing "that new DNA evidence, increasing doubts about the credibility of the State's key witnesses, and constitutional defects including ineffective counsel and racially discriminatory jury selection at trial."

Williams and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office reached an agreement in August 2024 whereby he would enter an Alford plea, admitting that the State has sufficient evidence to support his conviction, in exchange for a sentence of life without parole.

This meant he didn't have to plead guilty and it would save him from death row.

Even the victim's family supported this outcome, with Felicia's family writing in his clemency petition that they "define closure as Marcellus being allowed to live," and that "Marcellus' execution was not necessary."

But despite the family and a judge signing off on the agreement and a petition signed by a million people — the attorney general, the state supreme court and Governor Mike Parsons rejected and blocked all last ditch attempts to save William's life.

After a final meal of chicken wings and tater tots, Williams said his final words; "All praise be to Allah in every situation." He died by lethal injection at 6:10pm on September 24, 2024 as his son and lawyers watched on from the viewing room.

Laurence spoke to Williams just three months before his death, telling True Crime Conversations he said of his upcoming execution, "I'm normal, like everybody else I have anxieties and things like that, but I've put my faith in my faith, and if this is what's to happen, then this is what's to happen."

After his execution, Governor Parsons released a statement that read, "we hope this gives finality to a case that has languished for decades, re-victimising Ms Gayle's family over and over again."

As Laurence pointed out, "this is supposed to be for the victims. They're supposed to be doing justice for the victims. But if the victims [family] don't want this, then what are we doing it for?"

As to why the powers in charge were so adamant on William's executution, Laurence has a theory.

"The biggest issue I think with this situation, is that these people in power — like your Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who loves a death penalty and putting people in prison, like the judges, like the governors — they are elected positions. So they're elected by the people, and at the end of the day their biggest catch cry is 'tough on crime'.

Deacon Dave Billips holds a sign as he stands with protesters trying to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams. Image: AAP/Laurie Skrivan.

"There's been research done around election time, [showing] rates of incarceration and lengths of sentences go up. Judges are far harsher on their sentencing because, again, they're elected officials, and come election time they want to yell, 'look at me. Look at my numbers. Look how many bad people I'm putting away in prison.'"

Speaking to True Crime Conversations Laurence added, "I think where it went really wrong for Marcellus when it came to wanting the governor to get involved was, I think there was too much support for him. That sounds weird, but what I mean by that is, it got to a point where I think the governor didn't want to show he might bend to public pressure and that he was staunch [on crime]."

Missouri Department of Corrections via AP/AAP

Feature image: Marcellus William's defence team/Find A Grave.