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Attorneys Argue Before MO Supreme Court Over Parson’s Dissolving of Death Penalty Board

April 11, 2024 6:25AM CDT
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Attorneys Argue Before MO Supreme Court Over Parson’s Dissolving of Death Penalty Board
FILE – In this Jan. 27, 2021 file photo, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson delivers the State of the State address in Jefferson City, Mo. Missouri is clashing with the U.S. Department of Justice over a new law banning police from enforcing federal gun rules. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Justice Department officials wrote that state lawmakers went too far with the law and noted that federal law trumps state law under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. In response, Parson and Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote a defiant letter stating that they still plan to enforce the new law. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

The Missouri Supreme Court is reviewing a case involving whether Governor Mike Parson had the legal authority to dissolve a board reviewing if Marcellus Williams might be innocent of murder.

He was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia Gayle.

Former Governor Eric Greitens appointed the board in 2017 to investigate Williams’ claim of innocence, but last year Parson dissolved the board even though it had not finished its inquiry.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane told the high court that state law is on the governor’s side:

An attorney representing the judge argued the governor misinterpreted the law and that legislative approval would be needed to dissolve the board.

The State Supreme Court will issue its ruling later.