Playing God
- Lorenzo Alexander
- Apr 1, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 16, 2025
The trial of Marcellus Williams, accused of killing Felicia Gayle, captivated the nation as many anxiously awaited his execution by the state of Missouri. Despite millions of signatures and numerous pleas and petitions, these efforts were insufficient to stop the state-sponsored execution of Williams.
Marcellus Williams faced a very intriguing yet, more importantly, conflicting case against him. Felicia Gayle, a journalist, was killed during a home invasion, suffering 43 stab wounds in her kitchen. Her husband discovered her that night. A year later, Felicia's family announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer. It was then that Henry Cole and Laura Asaro came forward, accusing Marcellus Williams of being responsible for Gayle's murder. Henry Cole received his $5,000 share, while Laura Asaro did not.
Henry Cole shared a cell with Williams and claimed that Williams confessed to his crime while they were incarcerated together. Williams had already had a criminal record and had been serving a 20 year sentence for robbing a donut shop. Laura Asaro was in a relationship with Williams during the time of the crime and she claimed that Williams confessed that he killed Gayle to her. Asaro also claimed she found a purse that belonged to the victim in the car as well as seeing blood on Williams’s shirt and the victim’s laptop in his car.
Now here’s where it gets weird:
Laura Asaro’s accounts as well as the details she provided did not match up with the public accounts of the crime. It was not until Asaro was arrested for sex work where she implicated Williams for the murder of Gayle and while she was being interrogated the detectives coerced her with the opportunity of freedom and the $5,000 reward (which she never received). Of course, the two witnesses' stories contradicted details of the crime and changed over time. Their stories were not consistent.
Both witnesses Laura Asaro and Henry Cole eventually passed away a few years after but their relatives testified that they both had a reputation for falsifying accounts of crimes in order to benefit themselves. It was also stated on record that they were heavy drug users with a very complicated criminal history.
Prior to the murder of Felicia Gayle, there was another violent murder that occurred 3 miles away from the scene of Gayle’s murder. Debra McClain was stabbed 20 times in her home while the records cite extremely similar circumstances that tie the two murders together. When McClain was murdered, Williams was already incarcerated giving him an alibi. McClain’s murder went cold and was never solved.
That being said, does it matter?
I pose the question does it matter because in this very complicated case, what is being lost amongst the discourse is that the death penalty should not have been carried out on Marcellus Williams whether he was innocent or not.
In America, we are told that we are "Innocent until Proven Guilty" in a court of law. Since the founding of our nation, the principles of law and order were intended to guide us toward prosperity and strength. However, this was not the case for those viewed as second-class citizens or lesser equals by those who established these laws. The Death Penalty is a flawed and barbaric form of punishment that has been executed by the state, citizens, and the private sector. Some still use the term "lynching" due to its primitive nature, reminiscent of times when white communities would gather to celebrate the hanging of black individuals as a statement. Lynchings attracted mobs composed of the community's prominent figures, including police officers, doctors, nurses, and teachers, who would gather to physically torment and murder black victims in the name of "justice." Victims were tortured, mutilated, decapitated, and desecrated by white supremacists, and their remains were even turned into souvenirs like postcards and photos.
Now here we are less than a century later, white supremacists are still using Black people as scapegoats to push the hypocritical narrative that we should be put-down like animals as a form of justice. They use triggering details of the crimes people have committed like sexual abuse, pedophilia, murder and other heanice crimes that get reactions out of the normal person to leverage their stance on Capital Punishment. Yes some criminals are past the point of rehabilitation and are very much a threat to society but the idea of putting the decision in the hands of an untrustworthy system that was designed to oppress minorities is irresponsible. There are reasonable alternatives to Capital Punishment that don’t risk the possibility of killing an innocent person. Another misconception that is pushed by conservative media is that it costs citizens more to keep an inmate alive serving a life sentence than it would to just murder them. This idea is false.
It is actually much more grueling on taxpayers to fund an inmate on death row. Leveraging the sacracy of life to something as trivial as paying taxes is dystopian in itself, but this point is just to refute those who actually believe they’re saving money by supporting state violence. States that carry out the death penalty found that cases are 10 times more expensive in comparison to non-death penalty cases and a study at Duke in 2009 by Philip Cook showed that North Carolina could have saved $22 million dollars between 2005 to 2006 had they repealed the death penalty. Another study showed that a death sentence in Maryland costs 2 million dollars more than a comparable non death penalty case. Maryland has spent a total of $186 million extra dollars to carry out only 5 executions and California has spent over $4 billion dollars extra for the death penalty since 1978 for no more than 13 executions. These cases get so expensive because they require more lawyers, more witnesses, more experts, a longer jury selection, more pre-trial motions and then a new trial for the sentencing. The money we put towards Capital punishment can be used to facilitate resources so that these crimes can be thoroughly investigated with the proper attention and due process, but in a nation built on racism that is a large ask. Our country prioritizes state violence over education, healthcare and infrastructure so for people who want our justice system to be reformed we must understand that the system is doing what it was designed to do; kill innocent black people in the name of “justice”. In Texas, the Death Penalty costs 3 times the amount it would for an inmate to serve a 40 year sentence in a maximum security prison and they went as far as raising property tax by 7% to carry out one single death penalty case. The same state that prides itself in its conservative principles which normally leans towards alleviating the burden of unnecessary taxes by the government, taxed its own citizens to kill one person. Florida freezed employee raises and took from the library budget to carry out two Death Penalty cases. So I ask you now, is it really about the money? Enough about the monetary aspect of Capital Punishment, let's get into the victims:
Because the death penalty process is so flawed, it leads to a lot of mistrials and overturnings. About 68% of cases are overturned, (which then leads to appeals prolonging the process for additional years) according to a Columbia Law School study. But what about those who fell victim to this process and were killed by the state like Marcellus Williams? In America, Black people are 7.5 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than white people and 80% more likely to be innocent than others convicted of murder according to the National Registry of Exonerations. In every aspect, black people are overrepresented when it comes to being wrongfully accused of murder. Black people also make up 56% of all death sentence exonerees. All the data shows that the system is designed to unjustly criminalize, murder and punish black people at an extremely higher rate than any race in America.
The attention that these cases are now getting is great for efforts to push reform. We were able to see how Tik Tok, X, Instagram and other social media platforms inform those about Marcellus Williams’s case. We have seen celebrities like Kim Kardasion speak out about trying to reform the prison system. Even members of Congress spoke out about the travesty. But unfortunately what has been lost is that Capital Punishment is ideology way more than it is policy.
Capital punishment in the name of justice is the easiest way for white people in power to reinforce the idea that Black people are expendable to them. Pro-life only applies to the agenda that fits their ideology. Black women not having access to healthcare for contraception, sending weapons to the Middle East for murder, or ignoring the neglected foster care system in America are all fine but playing God and deciding to have the jurisdiction to take away a life are not seen as parallel to lawmakers. Human lives are being prioritized based on the terms of those who partake in the most evil practices sponsored by the state. The practices that have been proven to be subtle forms of torture are being carried out like the electric chair, lethal injection, firing squad and hanging despite having faults in their processes. Not quick and painless but excruciating and slow. In America, we treat the euthanasia of pets and the sport of hunting with more compassion than the execution of humans.
In recent news, the case involving Luigi Mangione as the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has brought capital punishment into the conversation. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty stating:
”Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson -- an innocent man and father of two young children -- was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,”
The case against Luigi Mangione has garnered worldwide attention because of the video footage of an assassination and the media coverage prior to his arrest. Online, many individuals have been developing conspiracy theories and drawing conclusions from the inconsistent evidence available, while others have expressed sympathy for the murdered billionaire CEO.
Regardless of whether Luigi Mangione is found innocent or guilty, there will be significant speculation about the prosecution's motives. Since Luigi is accused of murdering a financially influential individual, the Justice System will likely use his case as a warning to those who might be inspired by his actions. What Luigi is accused of is not nearly the most violent act witnessed in America in recent years. Incidents like school shootings, police shootings, and other acts of gun violence are on the rise in America. However, the push for capital punishment in Luigi’s case highlights the notion that white supremacy and the American oligarchy must be protected. This is another instance where capital punishment is used as a tool of intimidation to maintain power.
So what will it take? How can America move on from these practices? What can you do to help combat these problems and offer support to those facing the death penalty? Probably the biggest platform for information and donations for those facing wrongful convictions is The Innocence Project. Also, signing petitions, getting organized, calling state officials is always an effective way to push for change but most importantly vote for those who align with your interest.
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