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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Missouri court hearing this week about new DNA evidence in death penalty case

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(Jefferson City, MO) – A St. Louis County Court is scheduled to hear about new DNA evidence this week involving a prisoner who could be executed next month.

The case involves Marcellus Williams, who was convicted in the 1998 stabbing death of Felisha Gayle, a former social worker and newspaper reporter.

Last January, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate Williams’ conviction. 

The motion was filed as a result of a 2021 Missouri law which allows prosecutors to seek to vacate a conviction they believe was made in error.

Bell said forensic evidence found at the crime scene does not match Williams. 

Williams has maintained his innocence.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey has argued that evidence presented at trial shows Williams is guilty of killing Gayle.

This week’s hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Judge Bruce Hilton is presiding over the hearing.

Williams is scheduled to be put to death on September 24th.

Source: missourinet.com, Staff, August 19, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Missouri, USA
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