Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today commended the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the case of State of Alabama v. Marcus Bernard Williams. Williams, who confessed to the 1996 murder and rape of Melanie Rowell in St. Clair County, was initially sentenced to death. During his appeals, Williams argued that childhood abuse led him to become a "hypersexual" predator, which he claimed should have been presented by his trial counsel as mitigating evidence.
Federal courts had previously vacated his sentence on grounds that his defense was ineffective for not investigating and presenting this evidence. The Attorney General contended before the U.S. Supreme Court that introducing such evidence would not have swayed the jury's decision. Marshall emphasized that additional evidence of another violent sex crime committed by Williams shortly after Rowell's murder would have further supported capital punishment.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
"Melanie’s family has waited decades to see justice done for this heinous crime," said Attorney General Marshall. "Williams’s backstory cannot excuse the brutal murder and rape of a young single mother as her toddlers slept in the next room. A jury would have easily seen through any desperate attempt by Williams to distract from his vicious crime with stories from his childhood. Marcus Williams’s crimes merit the ultimate punishment, and the Supreme Court’s decision today brings us one step closer to justice."