The state of Missouri moved to execute Marcellus Williams, a death row inmate who had claimed his innocence for decades.
According to Newsweek, Williams died by fatal injection at the Missouri State Prison in Bonne Terre just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday (September 24).
Williams was convicted in 2001 of murdering former newspaper reporter Felicia Gayle, who was discovered stabbed to death in her home in 1998. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office argued for a postponement of Williams’ execution due to suspected racial bias in jury selection during his 2001 trial and DNA evidence that did not link Williams to the murder.
However, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, the Missouri Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court all rejected efforts and appeals to award Williams clemency and postpone his execution.
Just days before his execution, Williams handwrote his final statement.
“Even for those who disagree on the death penalty, when there is a shadow of a doubt of any defendant’s guilt, the irreversible punishment of execution should not be an option,” St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement.
According to officials, Williams ate his final dinner of chicken wings and tater tots just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday. In his final hours, Imam Jalahii Kacem paid him a visit, accompanying him to the execution room.
“All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation!!!” Williams’ final words read.
Shortly before his execution, Williams’ attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, claimed that Missouri was killing an innocent man.
“That is not justice,” Bushnell said. “And we must all question any system that would allow this to occur. The execution of an innocent person is the most extreme manifestation of Missouri’s obsession with ‘finality’ over truth, justice, and humanity, at any cost.”
“Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power,” she added. “Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.”
