Death Penalty

Lethal injection is not as humane as it may seem.

A jury found Lance Shockley guilty of a 2005 murder but deadlocked on the punishment. A judge in Carter County issued the death sentence.

Missouri law allowed a judge to sentence Shockley to death after a jury deadlocked and couldn’t decide on the punishment.

The men will now spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The family of Marcellus Williams has reported receiving death threats since the state of Missouri executed him on Tuesday. A representative of his son said the threats were made via phone calls, emails and anonymous social media messages.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell unsuccessfully sought to halt Marcellus Williams’ execution earlier this week.

Marcellus Williams had always maintained that he had nothing to do with the stabbing death of a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. State and federal courts rejected numerous last-minute requests to halt the execution and review the case.

Without intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court, Marcellus Williams will be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Williams is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the 1998 killing of Felicia Gayle. His attorneys have launched multiple legal battles in an attempt to save his life.

The judges’ order comes despite the fact that St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell has filed a motion to throw out the conviction because he no longer believes Marcellus Williams is guilty.