Marcellus Williams executed in Missouri amid strong innocence claims: 'It is murder'

Missouri executed Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams on Tuesday in the 1998 killing of a former newspaper reporter despite a prosecutor in the case and the family of the victim saying his life should be spared.

Williams, who always maintained his innocence − a claim backed by not only his defense team but later prosecutors − is now the third inmate executed in Missouri this year and the 15th in the nation. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. following the lethal injection, the Missouri Department of Corrections reported.

“Tonight, we all bear witness to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power," Williams' attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement, emphasizing how prosecutors have "zealously fought to undo the conviction and save Mr. Williams’ life."