An innocent man died on Sept. 24, 2024, in Missouri. His name was Marcellus Williams.
524,000 people signed a petition to stop the lethal injection, and more than 40,000 calls were made to Governor of Missouri Mike Parson.
But those voices were ignored. Activists went to the right people, and did what the government said they should do if we, the people, disagreed with something that’s happened in our country or state.
The victim’s family and the prosecutor voiced dissatisfaction with the decision, arguing that justice had not been done. Mr. Williams was charged with a 1998 murder despite the lack of DNA evidence to connect him to the crime scene. The former Governor of Missouri established a task committee to examine his case and identify any gaps in the evidence; but then current Gov. Parson disbanded the task force, and left numerous unanswered questions. People looking for closure felt more uneasy by additional questions that arose and clouded the verdict despite efforts to revisit his guilt.
Despite all that, activists’ actions – including my own — felt like it amounted to nothing.
It didn’t matter how much we posted about Mr. Williams’ planned execution on social media, the letters to the editor we wrote, the pleas to the governor’s office. In the days leading up to Sept. 24, my TikTok, one of the biggest platforms right now, with more than 170 million active U.S. users, was filled with people trying to stop this state-sanctioned murder. Even on the day of the execution, activists organized a protest and hoped for some type of grace that they would stop this and do what was right. It was a peaceful protest, but it could have been something else. Then, too, if we as a people get fed up and riot and be less than peaceful, then we are in the wrong.
The state carried out the execution, anyway, and after Mr. Williams was pronounced dead, my question is: What does it take for politicians to listen? What more did they need to stop another one of these senseless murders?
When the people in office don’t listen, they will sometimes have to bring out the National Guard or break out tear gas to hold people back.
Sometimes, that feels like the only time the people in power look and listen.
These actions don’t come out of nowhere. Riots never just happen. Riots come from pain that festers into something big when people aren’t being heard.
Meanwhile, there are more than 2,400 people on death row across the United States. According to the Innocence Project, “More than 190 people have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973.” This is the troubling reality that potentially innocent individuals may still face the same awful fate as Mr. Williams.
The lack of DNA evidence and disbanding of investigative efforts in cases such as his brings broader attention to the flaws in the justice system, where wrongful convictions can lead to irreversible consequences, including the execution of innocent people. The systemic risks to those on death row remain high, despite growing awareness of these miscarriages of justice.
When does it stop? What does it take?
