08 April 2026 :

April 3, 2026 - Alabama. Federal appeals court reinstates death sentence for Marcus Williams, 51, Black.

Williams was sentenced to death in 1999 for the November 6, 1996 rape and murder of Melanie Rowell

According to Attorney General Steve Marshall, Marcus Williams broke into the home of Rowell, a 20-year-old single mother of 2, in the middle of the night. After checking to make sure her children were asleep, Williams raped her at knifepoint, and strangled her. Rowell’s toddlers found her half-naked body the next morning.

Following a trial that included forensic evidence and Williams’ confession, a jury convicted him of capital murder in 1999 and recommended the death penalty in an 11-1 vote.

A lower federal court later threw out his sentence (see HoC September 23, 2021). The court ruled his defense attorneys should have argued that a compulsive “hypersexuality” diminished his culpability for the crime.

However, the state argued that an irresistible compulsion to rape wouldn’t have swayed a jury in his favor. Prosecutors noted such a defense would have actually opened the door to evidence of another sexual assault Williams committed just weeks after Rowell’s murder.

While Williams initially won his appeals in the Northern District of Alabama and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the attorney general’s office successfully convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate that decision and remand the case. On April 3, the 11th Circuit agreed with the state and officially reinstated the death sentence.

https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-death-sentence-reinstated-melanie-rowell-case/70942889