Marcellus Williams Executed In Missouri

Marcellus Williams
Marcellus Williams

Marcellus Williams was executed by the State of Missouri for the murder of Lisha Gayle in 1998

According to court documents Marcellus Williams would break into the home of Lisha Gayle and during the robbery would stab to death the woman. A number of items would be stolen from the home

Marcellus Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death in 2001

Over the last few months there has been much doubt whether or not Marcellus Williams was guilty of the crime that sent him to death row. A main issue was that the DNA used to convict Marcellus was tainted by the CSI team at the original murder

However when Marcellus Williams appealed to get his death sentence overturned it was denied by the Governor of Missouri, the Missouri Supreme Court and the Supreme Court

Marcellus Williams would be executed by lethal injection on September 24 2024

Marcellus Williams Execution

Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams was executed by lethal injection Tuesday for the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a former newspaper reporter who was found brutally stabbed in her suburban St. Louis home.

Williams, 55, died after 6:00 p.m. CDT at a Missouri state prison in Bonne Terre in Francois County, approximately 60 miles southwest of St. Louis, Williams’ lawyer confirmed to ABC News.

The capital punishment case saw national attention with Williams maintaining his innocence, the victim’s family opposing the execution and his prosecution submitting motions for appeals at every level.

“Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline when decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice,” Wesley Bell, chief prosecutor for St. Louis County, said in a statement after the execution.

The United States Supreme Court denied two separate appeals to spare Williams’ life on Tuesday an hour ahead of his execution, despite the objection of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

Williams’ attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell released a statement after SCOTUS’ decision, saying, “Tonight, Missouri will execute an innocent man Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams.”

“As dark as today is, we owe it to Khaliifah to build a brighter future. We are thankful to the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney, for his commitment to truth and justice and all he did to try to prevent this unspeakable wrong. And for the millions of people who signed petitions, made calls, and shared Khaliifah’s story,” Bushnell said.

On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and the state’s Supreme Court rejected a bid to halt the execution.

In a statement to ABC News, Parson said, “No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims.”

“At the end of the day, his guilty verdict and sentence of capital punishment were upheld. Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence,” Parson added.

Williams was charged with first-degree murder in 1999 for the killing of Gayle, a social worker and former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was found guilty in 2001.

Prosecutors in Williams’ original trial alleged he broke into Gayle’s home in August 1998 and stabbed her 43 times with a large butcher knife, according to court documents. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen after the attack.

The kitchen knife used in the killing was left lodged in Gayle’s body, according to court documents. Blood, hair, fingerprints and shoe prints believed to belong to the perpetrator were found around the home.

Williams’ defense claimed that his DNA was never found on the murder weapon and two unidentified sources of DNA would lead investigators to the actual killer.

In DNA evidence discovered in August, it was found that the former prosecutor and investigator who litigated the original trial failed to wear gloves when handling the murder weapon, leaving their DNA on the knife, revealing the sources of the unidentified DNA, which did not belong to an unidentified killer.

In his statement Monday, Parson accused Williams’ attorneys of trying to “muddy the waters about DNA evidence” with claims that have previously been rejected by the courts.

“Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence,” Parson said.

Williams’ execution marks the third in Missouri this year and the 100th since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1989

https://abcnews.go.com/US/marcellus-williams-executed-lethal-injection-missouri-after-scotus/story?id=114025574

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David Hosier Missouri Execution

David Hosier Missouri Execution
David Hosier

David Hosier was executed by the State of Missouri for a double murder that took place in 2009

According to court documents David Hosier would begin a relationship with Angela Gilpin who had recently separated from her husband Rodney Gilpin. However when Hosier would learn that Angela and Rodney were attempting to rekindle their marriage he would go over to her apartment in Jefferson City Missouri and murder the pair

David Hosier would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

David Hosier would be executed by lethal injection on June 11 2024

David Hosier Execution

Missouri carried out its second execution this year on Tuesday after Gov. Mike Parson denied a request for clemency filed by inmate David Hosier.

Hosier was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. local time at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri, a corrections spokesperson said in a statement.

Hosier, 69, has maintained his innocence in the double murder for which he was sentenced to death. He submitted a clemency petition in the wake of multiple prior appeals, including one that the Missouri Supreme Court rejected five years ago when it unanimously upheld the state’s decision to execute him. But the authority to commute Hosier’s sentence or halt his execution — or not — ultimately rests with the governor, and some lawmakers have in recent days called on Parson to spare his life.

Hosier was placed on Missouri’s death row in 2013 after being convicted of capital murder in the 2009 deaths of Angela Gilpin and Rodney Gilpin at their home in Jefferson City. The governor, who has overseen 10 executions since beginning his term in office, said Hosier killed the couple “in a jealous rage,” echoing the prosecution’s argument during his criminal trial.

Hosier was convicted of fatally shooting the Gilpins during an armed burglary, after previously having a romantic relationship with Angela Gilpin. She and her husband were murdered around one month after Angela Gilpin ended the affair with Hosier, according to court documents.

“Ms. Angela Gilpin had her life stolen by David Hosier because he could not accept it when she ended their romantic involvement. He displays no remorse for his senseless violence,” Parson said in a statement Monday, announcing that Hosier’s clemency petition was denied. “For these heinous acts, Hosier earned maximum punishment under the law. I cannot imagine the pain experienced by Angela’s and Rodney’s loved ones but hope that carrying out Hosier’s sentence according to the Court’s order brings closure.”

Hosier already had a criminal record and owned firearms when the Gilpins were killed, and in the aftermath of the murders, Angela Gilpin’s purse was found to contain an application for a protective order against him as well as a statement saying she feared Hosier may shoot her and Rodney, documents show.

Parson’s office said Tuesday that “Hosier, with a decades-long history of violence against women, would not let Angela reconcile with Rodney, stalking and harassing her for weeks before murdering her and her husband.”

Before the Gilpins’ case, Hosier was convicted and sentenced to prison for assaulting and seriously injuring another woman.

Hosier’s defense attorneys have over the years tried to appeal the death sentence on the grounds that no physical evidence linked Hosier to the murders. “No confession, no eyewitnesses, no fingerprints, and none of David’s DNA or other personal effects were found at the crime scene,” they wrote in his 2019 appeal. Attorneys also argued that Hosier’s prior conviction for assault should not have been admissible evidence in the Gilpin trial because it unfairly prejudiced the jury.

His recent clemency petition focused mainly on Hosier’s personal life. Much of the petition centered on a stroke Hosier suffered in 2007 that attorneys said left him with lasting brain damage, as well as the 1971 murder of his father, an Indiana State Police sergeant, which his defense characterized as a traumatic event that drove his mental health struggles in adulthood. Hosier went on to serve in the United States Navy and as an emergency medical technician and firefighter in Jefferson County. His health has declined in the last several months, with the petition citing heart issues that intensified in early May.

U.S. Reps. Cori Bush and Emmanuel Cleaver, both of Missouri, urged Parson to grant Hosier’s clemency petition in a letter to the governor last week. They referenced the inmate’s medical issues and mental illness and suggested that his former attorneys’ choice to omit “vital medical information” during the criminal trial could amount to “a potential violation of Mr. Hosier’s Sixth Amendment rights.”

“Mr. Hosier’s debilitating condition further emphasizes the need for clemency in this case. He does not pose a threat to those around him and deserves humane treatment as he suffers from heart failure,” Bush and Cleaver wrote in that letter.

Hosier told The Associated Press he was unhappy with his current defense team’s approach to the clemency request, which he thought should have focused more on the lack of forensic evidence tying him to the Gilpins’ deaths and less on his childhood.

“They did exactly the opposite of what I wanted them to do,” Hosier said of the clemency petition, according to the AP. “I told them I didn’t want the ‘boo-hoo, woe is me.’ All that stuff happened 53 years ago, OK? It has nothing to do with why I’m sitting here right now.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-hosier-missouri-execution-2009-murders-death-row-governor-denies-clemency

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Brian Dorsey Executed For 2 Missouri Murders

Brian Dorsey was executed by the State of Missouri on April 9 2024 for two murders

According to court documents Brian Dorsey would call his cousin and her husband, Sarah Bonnie and Ben Bonnie, and told them that he felt he was in danger as drug dealers were banging on his door demanding that he repay his dept

Sarah Bonnie and Ben Bonnie would pick up Brian Dorsey and bring them back to their home for the night. After the couple went to bed Dorsey would fatally shoot the couple. The couple’s four year old daughter was in the home however she was not harmed

Brian Dorsey would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Brian Dorsey would be executed by lethal injection

Brian Dorsey Execution

Missouri death row inmate Brian Dorsey was executed on Tuesday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, officials confirmed.

Dorsey was convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband nearly 20 years ago.

The state carried out Dorsey’s death sentence by lethal injection at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri’s Department of Corrections said in a statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. local time.

The execution proceeded on Tuesday evening after the high court rejected two separate bids to intervene. There were no noted dissents. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, confirmed Monday that the state would move forward with Dorsey’s death sentence, rejecting a separate request for clemency.

More than 70 current and former corrections officers had urged Parson to commute Dorsey’s sentence, arguing he had been rehabilitated, and his lawyers said that Dorsey was in a drug-induced psychosis when he committed the killings in 2006.

Dorsey, 52, was the first inmate in Missouri to be executed this year after four were put to death in 2023.

Kirk Henderson, Dorsey’s attorney, criticized the state for moving forward with the execution.

“If anyone deserves mercy, surely it is Brian, who has been fully rehabilitated and whose death sentence was so flawed that five of his jurors believe he should not be executed,” Henderson said in a statement. “Executing Brian Dorsey is a pointless cruelty, an exercise of the state’s power that serves no legitimate penological purpose.”

Dorsey pleaded guilty to shooting and killing his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Ben Bonnie, at their home on Dec. 23, 2006. According to court filings, Dorsey had called his cousin for money to give to two drug dealers who were at his apartment, and the three returned to the Bonnies’ home later that night after they agreed to help him.

After Sarah and Ben Bonnie, and their daughter, went to bed, Dorsey grabbed a shotgun and shot the couple, after which prosecutors accused Dorsey of sexually assaulting his cousin. He then stole several items from the Bonnies’ home, including jewelry and their car, and attempted to sell them to repay his drug debt, state officials said.

The bodies were discovered after Sarah Bonnie’s parents went to the home after the couple was missing from a family gathering on Christmas Eve. When they went into the house, they found the couple’s 4-year-old daughter sitting on the couch, who told her grandparents her mother wouldn’t wake up.

Dorsey turned himself in to the police three days after the killings and confessed to the murders. He was then sentenced to death.

After failed appeals of his death sentence, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an execution warrant in December. Dorsey sought further relief, arguing his conviction and sentence violated the Sixth Amendment, though his efforts were unsuccessful.

In one request for the Supreme Court’s intervention, Dorsey’s attorneys argued that the lawyers appointed by the Missouri Public Defender Office to represent him were paid a flat fee of $12,000 apiece, which presented a conflict of interest that pitted their personal finance interests directly against Dorsey’s right to effective assistance of counsel.

Brian Dorsey’s current attorneys told the Supreme Court in a filing that his appointed lawyers provided “grossly deficient representation” in a capital case and pressured their client to plead guilty with no agreement that prosecutors wouldn’t pursue the death penalty.

They argued in a second request that Dorsey has achieved “remarkable redemption and rehabilitation” in his more than 17 years on death row, and the “goals of capital punishment will not be furthered by” his execution.

Brian Dorsey’s attorneys also raised concerns about Missouri’s execution protocol, which says nothing about the use of any pain relief. They describe their client in court filings as obese, diabetic and a former user of intravenous drugs, all of which could make it difficult to establish IV lines for the lethal injection and may lead Missouri Department of Corrections employees to use “cut downs.”

Under the procedure, large incisions are made in the arms, legs or other areas of the body, and tissue is pulled away from the vein. A federal lawsuit filed on Dorsey’s behalf in Missouri district court alleged that no anesthetic is given during “cut downs,” and the procedure occurs before an inmate meets with their spiritual adviser for the last time, which Dorsey plans to do.

His attorneys argued that the “significant pain and anguish” Dorsey would be in when he meets his spiritual adviser would hinder his ability to freely exercise his religion.

A settlement was reached Saturday, under which the state would take steps to limit the risk of extreme pain for Dorsey, according to the Associated Press.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brian-dorsey-execution-supreme-court

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George Gilmore Executed For 2 Missouri Murders

George Gilmore was executed by the State of Missouri for a double murder

According to court documents George Gilmore and accomplices would rob Clarence and Lottie Williams whose home would be robbed before they fled

George Gilmore would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

George Gilmore would be executed by lethal injection on August 31 1990

George Gilmore Case

George Clifton Gilmore, his brother Norman, and Leonard Laws lived in a trailer with several members of the Gilmore family; all three men were unemployed. After some discussion, they decided the easiest way to make money would be to “rob old people.” They further agreed they would kill the victims in order to prevent them from identifying any of the three perpetrators.

Late in the evening of October 28, 1980, the three met and decided to rob Clarence and Lottie Williams. In the early morning hours of October 29, 1980, they went to the Williams’s home, roused Mr. Williams, and convinced him to open his front door. They took him to his bedroom where he and Mrs. Williams were bound with clothesline. After ransacking the home and taking several items to their vehicle, defendant and Norman returned to the Williams’s bedroom. Defendant shot Mr. Williams with a twelve gauge shotgun; he reloaded the weapon and then shot Mrs. Williams. Thereafter, kerosene was spread throughout the home. Mr. Williams had not been killed by the first shotgun blast and attempted to escape when he saw the kerosene being spread throughout his home. Defendant stopped the escape by shooting Mr. Williams a second time.

Several weeks after the murders, defendant discussed the crimes with two relatives, Robert Gilmore and Bobby DeClue. After confirming the story by a visit to the site of the Williams’s home and speaking to Norman Gilmore, DeClue and Robert Gilmore reported the incident to police and agreed to help apprehend the three perpetrators. On January 2, 1981, DeClue and Robert Gilmore tricked Leonard Laws and George Gilmore into leaving their trailer; they were then arrested at a police roadblock. Norman Gilmore was arrested at a house in Franklin County, Missouri.

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Winford Stokes Executed For 3 Missouri Murders

Winford Stokes was executed by the State of Missouri for three murders

According to court documents Winford Stokes would murder Ignatius DiManuele and would plead guilty to manslaughter. Once out of prison Stokes would murder 73 year old Marie Montgomery. Two months later he would murder Pamela Benda.

Winford Stokes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Winford Stokes would be executed by lethal injection on May 11 1990

Winford Stokes Photos

Winford Stokes - Missouri

Winford Stokes Case

A junior high school dropout who spent 10 years on death row was executed by lethal injection Friday for killing a divorced mother he met in a bar and took back to her apartment.

Winford Stokes, 39, was pronounced dead at 9:39 p.m. at Potosi Correctional Center, said Dale Riley, assistant director of the Division of Adult Institutions in Missouri.

‘Stokes made no last statements. He was calm throughout the entire process,’ Riley said.

The execution came two hours after the Supreme Court vacated a stay granted by a lower court earlier in the week.

Winford Stokes, sentenced to prison in the fatal shooting of a widow in 1977 and a bar owner in 1969, was placed on death row Jan. 17, 1980, for the murder of Pamela R. Benda, 33, a divorced mother of three. Stokes met her in a bar and they went to her apartment

The execution was the 125th in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, and the second in Missouri this year.

‘The death warrant (was) read at 9:31 p.m.,’ Riley said. ‘The first lethal dosage administered at 9:36 p.m. death was pronounced at 9:39 p.m.

Riley said the execution equipment worked without malfunctions. During the execution of a man in Florida May 4, the electric chair apparatus worked improperly, causing flames to shoot up from the headgear.

‘There were no absolutely glitches in the process,’ Riley said of Stokes’ execution. ‘Everything proceeded exactly as scheduled.’

The state had 12 witnesses, Riley said. Winford Stokes requested no one to witness his death.

The St. Louis native ordered a last meal of fried catfish, French fries, cole slaw and a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, but did not ask for any dessert.

Riley said Stokes asked for a sedative and received one at 7:20 p.m. His wife Evette and his mother-in-law visited him earlier in the day, but they left at 6 p.m. and were not present for the execution.

Riley said the death row inmate seemed in a good mood earlier Friday, had asked for cigarettes and Pepsi Cola to be brought to his isolation cell, and spent the morning watching television

Winford Stokes had been scheduled for death at 12:01 a.m. Friday, but a stay was issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge George Gunn Jr. in St. Louis — the same day the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the condemned man.

State Attorney General William Webster’s office filed a petition with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking that the stay be lifted.

A three-judge panel upheld the stay earlier Friday, and the full court declined early in the evening to overturn Gunn’s decision.

But the Supreme Court issued an order at 7:25 p.m. that the stay be lifted, said Mary Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s office.

Benda, a mother of three, was strangled and stabbed, and her nude body was found Feb. 21, 1978, on the bedroom floor of her apartment in University City, a suburb of St. Louis.

Benda, employed as a waitress at the Washington University Faculty Club, met Stokes in a bar, and the two went to her apartment. Her body was found with a pillow case over her head and an apron wrapped around her neck.

One month before he was convicted in Benda’s murder, Stokes pleaded guilty to the 1977 fatal shooting of Marie Montgomery, 77, a St. Louis widow. He received a 50-year prison sentence on a second-degree murder charge in that case

Winford Stokes previously had served six years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter and other charges in the fatal shooting of a St. Louis tavern owner in 1969.

Winford Stokes was one of 10 children and attended school only through the eighth grade.

After Webster’s office filed the petition for the stay to be vacated, Stokes had prepared for possible execution early Friday morning. He was served a dinner of sirloin steak, broccoli with cheese sauce, a salad with dressing, strawberry shortcake and a 2-liter bottle of cola Thursday night, Riley said.

The prisoner also was given a sedative and visited with his wife and mother-in-law, Riley said. He remained calm and was not upset about the proceedings, Riley said. He did not request a visit from a chaplain.

The three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court conferred via telephone conference call Thursday night and announced at 10:45 p.m. they would issue their decision Friday.

Winford Stokes, 39, was pronounced dead at 9:39 p.m. at Potosi Correctional Center, said Dale Riley, assistant director of the Division of Adult Institutions in Missouri.

The execution came two hours after the Supreme Court vacated a stay granted by a lower court earlier in the week.

Winford Stokes, sentenced to prison in the fatal shooting of a widow in 1977 and a bar owner in 1969, was placed on death row Jan. 17, 1980, for the murder of Pamela R. Benda, 33, a divorced mother of three. Stokes met her in a bar and they went to her apartment.

The execution was the 125th in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, and the second in Missouri this year.

The St. Louis native ordered a last meal of fried catfish, French fries, cole slaw and a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, but did not ask for any dessert.

Riley said the death row inmate seemed in a good mood earlier Friday, had asked for cigarettes and Pepsi Cola to be brought to his isolation cell, and spent the morning watching television.

Stokes had been scheduled for death at 12:01 a.m. Friday, but a stay was issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge George Gunn Jr. in St. Louis — the same day the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the condemned man.

State Attorney General William Webster’s office filed a petition with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking that the stay be lifted.

A three-judge panel upheld the stay earlier Friday, and the full court declined early in the evening to overturn Gunn’s decision.

But the Supreme Court issued an order at 7:25 p.m. that the stay be lifted, said Mary Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s office.

Benda, a mother of three, was strangled and stabbed, and her nude body was found Feb. 21, 1978, on the bedroom floor of her apartment in University City, a suburb of St. Louis.

Benda, employed as a waitress at the Washington University Faculty Club, met Stokes in a bar, and the two went to her apartment. Her body was found with a pillow case over her head and an apron wrapped around her neck.

One month before he was convicted in Benda’s murder, Stokes pleaded guilty to the 1977 fatal shooting of Marie Montgomery, 77, a St. Louis widow. He received a 50-year prison sentence on a second-degree murder charge in that case.

Stokes previously had served six years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter and other charges in the fatal shooting of a St. Louis tavern owner in 1969.

Stokes was one of 10 children and attended school only through the eighth grade

After Webster’s office filed the petition for the stay to be vacated, Stokes had prepared for possible execution early Friday morning. He was served a dinner of sirloin steak, broccoli with cheese sauce, a salad with dressing, strawberry shortcake and a 2-liter bottle of cola Thursday night, Riley said.

The prisoner also was given a sedative and visited with his wife and mother-in-law, Riley said. He remained calm and was not upset about the proceedings, Riley said. He did not request a visit from a chaplain.

The three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court conferred via telephone conference call Thursday night and announced at 10:45 p.m. they would issue their decision Friday

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/05/11/Condemned-man-executed-for-1978-killing/2964642398400/

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