Marcellus Williams was executed by the state of Missouri on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. He died by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. Williams was convicted of murder in the 1998 killing of Felicia Gayle. He maintained his innocence; the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney sought to vacate his conviction this year, but the courts ruled against it. A plea deal to reduce Williams’ sentence to life in prison without parole, supported by the prosecution, defense and Gayle’s family, was also blocked by Attorney General Andrew Bailey and the Missouri Supreme Court.
Nearly 70 Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders, including Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, Bishop Mark S. Rivituso and eight priests of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, signed a letter to Gov. Mike Parson asking him to reduce Williams’ sentence to life in prison without parole.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the Church teaches, in light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide” (CCC 2267).
