Marcellus Williams, whose murder conviction faced scrutiny from a prosecutor, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday evening in Missouri after the United States Supreme Court declined to issue a stay.

The 55-year-old was pronounced dead at approximately 6 p.m. Central Time at the state prison located in Bonne Terre.

Williams' legal team had submitted numerous appeals, citing what they referred to as new evidence, which included claims of bias during jury selection and potential contamination of the murder weapon before the trial. The family of the victim had requested clemency for the inmate.

The action taken by the U.S. Supreme Court occurred one day after both the Missouri Supreme Court and the governor denied a request for a stay of execution.

The high court did not provide an explanation for its ruling, a practice that is typical for cases on its emergency docket. There were no recorded dissents in two of Williams' appeals. In a third appeal, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed their support for granting a pause in the execution.

Williams was convicted in 2001 for the murder of Felicia Gayle, a former newspaper reporter who was found stabbed to death in her residence in 1998.

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