Christine Horner, copy editor

The Supreme Court’s decision to execute a potentially innocent man has sparked nation-wide controversy. According to Al Jazeera, Marcellus Williams, a poet accused of murdering former newspaper reporter and social worker Felicia Gayle, was put to death on Sept. 17 via lethal injection. A Supreme Court majority vote approved the decision to execute Marcellus Williams despite opposition from prosecutors, members of nonprofits such as The Innocence Project and members of the victim’s family according to Al Jazeera. 

The prosecutors and nonprofit members who opposed Williams’ execution cited mishandling of evidence as a crucial component to defending his innocence. According to The Innocence Project, the forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene and the murder weapon did not match Williams’ DNA. Those opposed to his execution also noted that two key witness testimonies were unreliable. Williams’ former cellmate, Henry Cole, and his ex-girlfriend, Laura Asaro, both have extensive criminal records and allegedly provided false testimonies according to The Innocence Project. The racial demographics of the jurors were also central to Williams’ case. According to NBC News, the jury consisted of 11 white members and one Black member, which could have contributed to the racial discrimination accusations since Williams was Black. This discrepancy between the number of white jurors and Black jurors could also be the result of racial discrimination. According to Al Jazeera, additional Black jurors were denied participation in the case solely based on their race; one trial lawyer claimed that he rejected a potential juror because he looked like Williams’ “familial brother.”

Williams’ execution has also shed light on other death row inmates whose potential innocence has been examined. Richard Glossip was accused of killing motel owner Barry Van Treese in 1997 according to CNN. Speculation about Glossip’s involvement in this murder arose because of another individual’s involvement. A man who worked at Van Treese’s motel, Justin Sneed, was originally convicted of the crime. According to CNN, to avoid a death sentence, he claimed that Glossip orchestrated the murder. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has closely involved itself in this case. According to MSNBC, Oklahoma “is practically begging [the Supreme Court] not to execute him.”

Experts have attributed the Supreme Court’s strict death penalty policies to the larger number of Republican justices compared to Democrat justices. Of the nine appointees, six are Republicans and three are Democrats according to the New York State Bar Association. This conservative majority combined with the massive number of inmates on death row leaves little room for last-minute re-evaluations. According to Al Jazeera, the current number of people on death row in the United States is over 2,000 and there is no “system” in place to determine their innocence while they await their executions. In an interview with the Echo, Augsburg Professor of Political Science and Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies Andrew Aoki stated, “There is nothing realistic that could be done to change this. In our federal system, states have extensive control over their criminal justice systems. The US Supreme Court can intervene, but the six conservative justices in the majority are unlikely to do so.” He also explained that changing the death penalty policies would take a lot of time to accomplish and would require electing a liberal President, such as Kamala Harris, who could appoint more Democrat Supreme Court justices. According to Aoki, “Elections matter a lot, for things such as the death penalty and for much more.”

Marcellus Williams was a devout Muslim who converted to Islam while serving his 23 year sentence as reported by Al Jazeera. According to CNN, his last words were, “All Praise Be To Allah In Every Situation!!!”