this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024

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455

Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life (apnews.com)

submitted 4 days ago by themeatbridge@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

“Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

all 40 comments

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[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 58 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Williams’ attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted of felonies and wanted a $10,000 reward. They said that fingerprints, a bloody shoeprint, hair and other evidence at the crime scene didn’t match Williams’.

A crime scene investigator had testified the killer wore gloves.

Questions about DNA evidence also led St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to request a hearing challenging Williams’ guilt. But days before the Aug. 21 hearing, new testing showed that DNA on the knife belonged to members of the prosecutor’s office who handled it without gloves after the original crime lab tests.

I thought I read somewhere else his gf rescinded her testimony too. Wouldn't be surprised if the prosecutor did the murder.

[–] cdf12345@lemm.ee 62 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The prosecution also believes he didn’t have a fair trial

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 13 points 4 days ago

Which is astounding and shows how badly this trial was handled since most prosecutors will still claim someone is guilty even after irrefutable evidence shows they were wrongfully convicted and a judge orders them to be set free.

[–] x00za@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 4 days ago

If upholding the law becomes more important than the people, you're a police state.

[–] Soup@lemmy.cafe 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Quota is quota. American law doesn’t exist to protect, it exists to punish.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

It doesn’t rehabilitate, either. Cheaper and more profitable to warehouse people than to offer psychiatric and educational care. Yes, before some pedants tell me that prisons do offer some of these things, I know they do. But they are not the default, and they are not always easily accessed.

[–] nul9o9@lemmy.world 86 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Everyone from the Attorney General down to the guy giving the lethal injection is a murderer.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 44 points 4 days ago

This is also the case for all other executions – it's just state-sanctioned murder – but this case is so clearly awful and a racist lynching that hopefully it starts waking up the people who defend the death penalty.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Any human who would willingly deliver the fatal cocktail needs to be locked away far from humanity.

From what I hear, some people salivate over the opportunity

[–] medgremlin@midwest.social 10 points 4 days ago

One of the problems these monsters have been having with carrying out executions is that they can't get pharma companies to sell them the drugs they use and they can't find actual healthcare professionals to perform the act. That's why there's been a few cases recently of having to cancel or postpone an execution because they couldn't get the damn IV line in.

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Agreed, but here is a fun story about one such man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJtZ5cF8Ac

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Governor could have done something, right?

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 28 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He did do something, which was to disband the committee investigating whether this man was wrongfully convicted or not and then later he denied a stay of execution.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago

Yep, the governor went above and beyond to ensure an innocent man was lynched by the state.

[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 76 points 4 days ago (2 children)

They need to stop saying “Missouri” and start calling them out by name. The governor and judge lynched this man.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 51 points 4 days ago

Fucking vile. Insane the bloodlust present in too many people in this fucking country.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 44 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Look, if you don't test the equipment on innocent people every now and then, how are you going to know if it works on the guilty people? Am I right?

[–] Bougie_Birdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We all hope we don't end up in the control group.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Have you tried being white? I hear that helps to avoid it.

[–] marron12@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

And wealthy or well-connected. If you're poor, you don't necessarily have much of a chance.

The link is a long read, but interesting. The story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas in 2004 for supposedly setting a fire that killed his three kids.

In December, 2004, questions about the scientific evidence in the Willingham case began to surface. Maurice Possley and Steve Mills, of the Chicago Tribune, had published an investigative series on flaws in forensic science; upon learning of Hurst’s report, Possley and Mills asked three fire experts, including John Lentini, to examine the original investigation. The experts concurred with Hurst’s report. Nearly two years later, the Innocence Project commissioned Lentini and three other top fire investigators to conduct an independent review of the arson evidence in the Willingham case. The panel concluded that “each and every one” of the indicators of arson had been “scientifically proven to be invalid.”

[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world 25 points 4 days ago

Like everything else in this backwards cursed fucking place, The Cruelty Is The Point.

[–] 58008@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Felicia_Gayle if you're interested.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 23 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

TLDR there was a ton of evidence at the scene, including footprints, blood, and DNA on the murder weapon.

None of the physical evidence matched Williams, not the footprints, not the blood, not the DNA on the murder weapon, but because it had not been handled properly, the exonerating evidence was ruled inadmissible.

Witnesses also recanted their testimony that Williams had confessed to them, and the prosecution admitted to striking jurors because they were black. There was zero physical evidence linking Williams to the scene, and zero credible witnesses claiming to have even second-hand knowledge of the crime.

The victim's family and the prosecution had both called for a stay of execution.

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

It was never about justice.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 4 days ago

Leave it to the south (Missouri is south-adjacent) to inflict the greatest cruelty. Doesn’t matter if you did it. You need to die.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Good to see a priest being actually pro life here

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Well, with the way prisons are managed, this might be better then dying from heatstroke in a box in the yard. And that's a pretty sad state to be in.

[–] houstoneulers@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

How much of this was the state just wishing they didn't have to pay for his life imprisonment?

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago

Life imprisonment is cheaper than execution in America.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Zero percent. It spent more money executing him than it would have keeping him in prison.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

wtf is that headline?

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Straight from AP.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yes, I'm criticizing the AP for not mentioning the man's innocence or lack of evidence and non-recanted witness statements.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Agreed, the headline makes it sound like the family was being merciful despite his conviction. Nope, Missouri just lynched a man.