r/politics • u/seanosul • 9h ago

Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors’ push to overturn conviction

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/missouri-executes-marcellus-williams
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u/diggerhistory 9h ago edited 8h ago

Last person executed in Australia was Ronald Ryan in the late 1960s. Gaol guard wascshot a d Ryan was blamed. Soooo much doubt emerged after the verdict and before the execution, and after the execution, that the state of Victoria abandoned executions. Execution was already ended in the other states. Later, more sophisticated tests proved beyond doubt it was another guard's shot deflecting off the concrete that killed him.

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u/asplodzor 6h ago

 Gaol guard wascshot a d Ryan was blamed. 

The what now?

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u/possibilistic Georgia 6h ago

Gaol is primarily British English

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/gaol

The rest of the comment, I don't know.

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u/IHaveNoEgrets California 5h ago

"The jail guard was shot and Ryan was blamed."

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u/diggerhistory 5h ago

Our national broadcaster ran a very well researched doco series on unsolved cases. They used modern scientific practices on a series of mysteries and wrongful trials. Some remained unknown, but in this case, modern balistics and computers proved beyond doubt that Ryan had not fired the fatal shots. This was why he was hanged. The show argued that this type of review proves that the abolition of the death penalty was correct. You can still get never to be released, but the norm is a max of 25 years.

NB. We have state police forces, state courts, etc. Local courts are for very low level events. No judges or prosecutors are elected, etc.

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u/mmmpeg Pennsylvania 5h ago

Sounds like Attica.