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Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Marcellus Williams was executed by Missouri on Tuesday evening for the 1998 murder of journalist despite objections from his attorneys and a state prosecutor. Williams, 55, was executed by lethal injection at the Missouri State Prison in Bonne Terre. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. the Missouri Department of Corrections confirmed to UPI in a statement.
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Williams, who also went by Khaliifah ibn Rayford Daniels upon converting to Islam, was convicted in 2001 for the stabbing death of Felicia Gayle in her home in 1998 and sentenced to death, though he maintained his innocence.
St. Louis County's lead prosecutor and Williams' attorneys sought a stay of execution based on recent testimony from the prosecutor in the 2001 trial and the results of DNA testing done recently that showed the evidence against Williams was contaminated. Gayle's family had also asked for Williams' life to be spared.
In a statement emailed to UPI following the death of their client, Williams' legal team lamented "how rote application of a process to protect finality outweighs finding truth and achieving fairness."
"We are disappointed how the clemency process unfolded," they said.
"To us, Khaliifah was an inspiration. We aspire to his level of faith, to his integrity and to his complete devotion to the people in his life. He was fiercely protective of the people he loved, and he loved them deeply."
"Although we are devastated and in disbelief over what the State has done to an innocent man, we are comforted that he left this world in peace."
St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell had joined Williams' attorneys in seeking an execution stay by the Missouri Supreme Court and asking for a more thorough hearing in the case.
Bell in January filed a motion seeking to vacate the verdict and death sentence in Williams' case.
Bell said newly completed DNA testing indicated Williams might not be the one who murdered Gayle and showed police had mishandled the murder weapon before the 2001 trial.
The contaminated evidence made it harder for Williams to prove his innocence and showed the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to an investigator and assistant prosecuting attorney, both of whom handled the murder weapon without wearing gloves.
Missouri's Attorney General's Office said the new evidence did not clear Williams of the crime.
It did show that law enforcement and many others handled the knife prior to the trial but did not prove that Williams' DNA was not on the murder weapon, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said.
Other evidence that led to Williams' conviction remained intact, Bailey added.
The Missouri Supreme Court and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denied the stay of execution request, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the matter.
Innocence Project executive director Christina Swarns called Williams' conviction and execution the product of a "broken system" and suggested his conviction was because he was a Black man accused of killing a White woman.
"His conviction was based on the testimony of two witnesses who were paid for their testimony," Swarns said in an emailed statement Tuesday evening.
She said the trial was unconstitutional because it "intentionally excluded" prospective Black jurors and all parties agreed the murder weapon was contaminated.
Williams' last statement was, "All praise be to Allah in every situation!!!"
He was the third person put to death by Missouri this year.
