What is an ‘Alford plea’? Marcellus Williams’ blocked plea deal before execution

A Missouri man was this week executed for a 1998 murder, despite last month agreeing a plea deal that would have spared his life.

Marcellus Williams, who maintained his innocence, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, 23 years after being convicted of the killing of Felicia “Lisha” Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to ABC, Williams’ was the third execution in Missouri this year, and the 100th since the state reintroduced the death penalty in 1989.

Williams, prosecutor agree plea deal

In August 1998, Gayle was found dead at her home in University City, Missouri, having been stabbed 43 times.

After being found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary - thanks to the testimony of two key prosecution witnesses who his attorneys say were unreliable - Williams was sentenced to death in August 2001.

But this August, after new DNA evidence raised questions over Williams’ conviction, the 55-year-old reached what appeared to be a life-saving agreement with the current St. Louis County prosecutor, Wesley Bell.

As part of what is known as an ‘Alford plea’, Williams’ conviction was to be vacated and he would plead no contest to a charge of first-degree murder. In exchange, his death sentence would be downgraded to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

What is an ‘Alford plea’?

Under United States law, when the accused submits an Alford plea, they plead guilty - but, according to the US Justice Department, “the defendant maintains his or her innocence with respect to the charge to which he or she offers to plead guilty”.

The Innocence Project, a non-profit that looks into potential wrongful convictions, stresses that an Alford plea “is not an admission of guilt”. The organisation, which had taken up Williams’ case, adds: “The plea simply acknowledges that the prosecution has evidence […] that could be used to convict him.”

Williams executed after plea deal blocked

Earlier this month, however, Williams’ Alford plea deal fell apart when it was rejected by the Missouri Supreme Court. In a court order seen by the St Louis media outlet Fox2, a state judge said: “Every claim of error Williams has asserted on direct appeal, post-conviction review, and habeas review, has been rejected by Missouri’s court.”

The document concluded: “There is no basis for a court to find that Williams is innocent, no court has made such a finding.”

Williams execution “did not serve interests of justice”

Reacting to Williams’ execution - which took place after the US Supreme Court denied two final appeals - Bell posted on X: “Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline that 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.”

Meanwhile, Missouri governor Mike Parson insisted in a statement: “I follow the law and trust the integrity of our judicial system. Mr. Williams has exhausted due process and every judicial avenue, including over 15 hearings attempting to argue his innocence and overturn his conviction.

“No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims.”