The Tuesday execution of Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams, a Missouri man held on death row for 23 years for a 1998 murder he maintained he did not commit, followed months of pleas to have his life spared.
Attorneys, criminal rights activists and politicians spoke out to condemn the execution, carried out after requests for it to be stayed were denied by both the Missouri and United States Supreme Courts and after Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson declined Williams' final appeal for clemency.
