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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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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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