KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The state of Missouri on Tuesday evening executed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, who maintained he was innocent in a 1998 killing and whose execution had garnered widespread opposition in Missouri and beyond, The Associated Press reported.

The state uses lethal injection in its executions, which are conducted at a prison in Bonne Terre, about an hour south of St. Louis.

The 55-year-old was convicted in 2001 of killing Felicia Gayle, a former reporter in St. Louis. Two witnesses, who later received reward money, said that Williams had told them he had killed Gayle. One of them led authorities to Williams’ car, where some of Gayle’s belongings were found. But no forensic evidence linked him to the murder. His attorneys said bloody footprints and DNA collected at the scene were not matched to Williams.

His execution followed an unprecedented legal battle under a recent Missouri law that allows prosecutors to challenge potentially wrongful convictions.

Williams’ legal team said this was the first execution in Missouri opposed by both the prosecutor’s office and the victim’s family.

Two petitions opposing Williams’ execution garnered more than 1 million signatures, according to the Innocence Project. The execution was also opposed by Amnesty International, the NAACP, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat.

On social media, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he has had experience on both sides of death penalty cases.

“No matter where you stand on capital punishment, it is a travesty to execute someone unless you are certain of their guilt. Missouri is not,” he posted. “May God have mercy on us all.”

Williams was the third person to die by lethal injection this year in Missouri, following the execution of Brian Dorsey in April and David Hosier in June. One more person is scheduled this year in Missouri, Christopher Collings on Dec. 3.

Williams is one of four people to be executed this week in the U.S. The others are scheduled in Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Williams was a father, a poet and an Islamic leader in prison. In June, a few days after the Missouri Supreme Court handed down his execution date, he sent this poem to The Kansas City Star titled “The Pre-execution Execution”:

I don’t spend time worrying about death -

despite its everydayness,

its ability to alter and seize moments,

its attribute of taking people in a state of frivolity, unaware.

Remembering it often is much better than worrying...

Death the destroyer of pleasures,

that which will wake the soul up and begin the next phase

Statewide protests

About 100 people gathered an hour ahead of the scheduled execution at 39th Street and Troost Avenue in Kansas City to protest the execution.

Demonstrators held signs reading “Missouri, the killer state,” “Capital punishment means those without capital get the punishment,” and “No state murder, let Khaliifah live.”

Amina Mohammed said if someone is facing punishment, there should be clear evidence.

“I feel like they know this is wrong,” she said of decision makers in Williams’ case. “It’s sad.”

Dozens of cars honked as they drove by the intersection.

Sydney Osborne made a cardboard sign with one of Williams’ poems she had seen published on the Innocence Project’s website.

“I wanted to celebrate his art,” she said, adding that there were many holes in Williams’ case, but “the government doesn’t care.”

One organizer had spelled out “KW” — for Khaliifah Williams — with candles, which became surrounded by bouquets of flowers.

Several protesters said they believe Williams had been convicted at least in part because he was a Black man. Dick Cayton, of Blue Springs, said he believes the government bends over backward for some people, but not others. He was holding a sign that read “What if we got it wrong?”

Others said anyone who is pro-life should have been at the protest.

A protester with a bullhorn denounced Parson’s decision to deny Williams clemency and criticized the governor’s possible pardon of Eric DeValkenaere, a white Kansas City Police Department officer who was convicted in the killing of a Black man.

Sydney Smith pointed to the lack of DNA evidence in Williams’ case and said his execution showed that the criminal justice system was not working.

“We have to try to change that, so that’s why we’re out here,” Smith said.

Other demonstrations were organized in Jefferson City, St. Louis, Columbia and near the prison in Bonne Terre.

Prosecutor supported claims

After a series of appeals, Williams skirted death twice, in 2015 and in 2017 when planned executions were halted to conduct further investigation and DNA testing. Former Gov. Eric Greitens also convened a board of inquiry, comprised of retired judges, to look into the case.

In June 2023, Gov. Mike Parson dissolved the board with little explanation and lifted the stay of execution.

Williams’ case was catalyzed in January when the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion supporting his innocence claim. While that was pending, the Missouri Supreme Court in June scheduled his Sept. 24 execution, setting off a flurry of legal actions that culminated last month during two hearings.

On Aug. 21, Williams’ legal team revealed that recent DNA testing showed the original trial prosecutor’s DNA on the murder weapon.

Former prosecutor Keith Larner admitted to handling the knife at least five times without gloves. Potential DNA evidence belonging to the perpetrator could have been removed when the weapon was mishandled. That weakened Williams’ case, and he agreed to plead no contest. The deal would have re-sentenced him to life without parole and spared him from capital punishment. But the Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the agreement, and the Missouri Supreme Court struck down the deal.

A full evidentiary hearing then took place before St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton, who ultimately denied Bell’s efforts.

On Monday, Williams’ chances narrowed as the Missouri Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Bell and Parson denied clemency.

Three cases remained pending before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier Tuesday. One asked whether reversal is necessary when “a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the prosecutor who prosecuted the case no longer seeks to defend it.” It was brought late Monday after the Missouri Supreme Court rejected Bell’s appeal.

The other cases argued that the trial prosecutor struck a potential juror from the pool because he was Black and questioned whether capital defendants have due process rights in the clemency process.

Those were denied shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated they would have granted the stay of execution on one of the cases.

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