Son of death row inmate Marcellus Williams whose execution was postponed in light of new DNA evidence, says there could be RIOTS
Williams was granted a temporary reprieve on Tuesday, four-and-a-half hours before his sentence was to be carried out
THE BOXER son of Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection after his death sentence was postponed at the 11th hour in light of compelling new DNA evidence, believes that if his dad is executed there will be RIOTS across America.
Marcellus Williams Jr, a heavyweight boxer who trains at Floyd Mayweather’s boxing club in Las Vegas, says new evidence proves his father is innocent of the 1998 murder of journalist Felicia Gayle in Missouri.
In an exclusive interview with Sun Online, the 26-year-old said: “I think it would be an uproar if they executed my father.
“I don’t want to promote any violence but if he gets executed I can’t even explain the magnitude of what is going to happen - there will be riots and everything.
“He has a lot of people’s support; a lot of people have been backing him for years and now social media has taken it to another level.
“They know this case is flawed and they want the right thing to happen but if the wrong thing happens and he gets executed there’s no telling what will take place.
“If he is executed that is murder. He is innocent. My father is good man. He is a sweet person, very intelligent - he’s kind and has a tender heart.
“My father would never have gone out and stabbed a woman 40-something times that is ridiculous.”
Williams Snr, 48, was granted a temporary reprieve of his death sentence on Tuesday just hours before he was due to be killed by lethal injection.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens halted the execution after Williams’s lawyers argued that new evidence had uncovered another man’s DNA on the murder weapon.
In an exclusive interview with the Sun Online, Williams's attorney Kent Gipson said he remained "calm" and "matter of fact" when he was granted a temporary reprieve on Tuesday, four-and-a-half hours before his sentence was to be carried out.
Williams was sentenced to death back in 2001 after prosecutors said he stabbed tragic Felicia 43 times at her at her home in St Louis, Missouri during a robbery.
Williams Jr believes that race was a huge factor in the conviction of his father and hit out at a “flawed” and “racist” system.
He now hopes lawyers can get a retrial or exoneration for his dad.
“There are a lot of things that don’t make sense now - and I truly believe he is going to get exonerated," he said.
“The people who testified against him were not credible witnesses.
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“Henry Cole, who is now dead, even admitted to his family that he lied and they came out and made statements saying he lied.
“There are a lot of holes in the prosecution's case. They just wanted to get a black man in prison for this - she was white, he was black, Muslim - so he did it.
“They didn’t give him a chance - he didn’t have the money to get the good lawyers he needed.
“The racial difference is still really bad in America - the way some white people treat black people - it’s systematic oppression.
“There’s white supremacy and overt racism from school to sports to prison and through to the legal and judicial system.”
Williams Jr described the last meeting with his dad on Tuesday - before he was due to be executed - as “highly emotional”
“There was a tension in the air,” he said. “But he’s my father and he wants the best for me so if that was his last day he wanted to make sure he was giving me a lot of wisdom.
“He was telling me not to waste my life and to do right by my family and honor God and live righteously.
“I didn’t really talk much I was sad. So I just kind of looked at him for a long time and I let him talk.
“I told him I never felt ill will towards him and I never complained about our situation and I still value him as my father even though he was behind bars for so long.”
The boxer, whose father has been in prison for 19 years, says he is upset that he has lost so much time with his dad but is determined to make up for it should his father be freed.
He said: “I was never mad at him but at the whole situation. Him being kept away was unfortunate for me because I wanted that father figure when I’m working out in the gym or someone I can go to if I have a problem rather than waiting for a prison phone call.
“But even though he has been kept away this long he always kept in touch with phone calls, he wrote me all the time and I went to visit him.
“We can’t get that time back but I try not to dwell on it I just hope he gets out and we can pick up and keep going forward.”
Williams Jr, who is due to make his professional boxing debut soon and dreams of becoming world champion, says he had received a huge amount of support from people in the UK opposed to his father’s execution.
“Thank you to all the people in the UK because that’s where some of our biggest supporters came from,” he said.
“A lot of people in the Islamic community there and others reached out to me. I’m a boxer and I’m connected with Mayweather Boxing Club and a lot of people from the UK hit me up on Instagram and Twitter to give me their support so I will always be grateful.”
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