A death row inmate in Missouri who has long claimed his innocence and is scheduled to be executed in less than one week asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday for a stay of execution, arguing his due process rights were denied during the yearslong legal battle to save his life.

Williams was still set to die by lethal injection next week for the 1998 murder of former Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia “Lisha” Gayle in 1998.

A man convicted of the murder of a store clerk is to be put to death by lethal injection in South Carolina on Friday, one of five executions scheduled to be carried out in the United States over the next week.

Taking the life of Marcellus Williams would be an unequivocal statement that when a white woman is killed, a Black man must die. And any Black man will do,” read a part of the organization's letter.

NAACP calls on Missouri's Gov. Mike Parson to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams, a Black man on death row, citing racial bias and lack of evidence.

The president of the NAACP is urging Missouri's governor to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams scheduled for Tuesday, writing that executing a Black man who says he was wrongfully convicted would amount to a “horrible miscarriage of justice.

The NAACP is urging Missouri Governor Mike Parson to stop the scheduled execution of Marcellus Williams on Tuesday (September 24), Essence reports. Williams, now 55, was convicted in 1998 of killing former newspaper reporter Felicia Gayle.