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Supreme Court rejects Marcellus Williams’ appeal to stay execution
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Supreme Court rejects Marcellus Williams’ appeal to stay execution

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request for a stay of execution for a Missouri inmate who was to be put to death Tuesday night.

Attorneys for Marcellus Williams, 53, convicted in the 1998 death of Lisha Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, filed two motions Monday seeking to stay his execution. The first motion was related to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals’ refusal to hear his case based on newly discovered evidence of racial bias in jury selection. The court rejected the motion Saturday.

The second focused on claims by the St. Louis County District Attorney’s Office that Williams might be innocent. Prosecutors recently filed a motion to throw out his conviction. A judge granted their motion, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey challenged the decision.

The case was then sent back to the same judge, who reversed his decision. On Monday, both Missouri Governor Mike Parson and the state Supreme Court decided not to grant Williams clemency.

The requests were submitted to Chief Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who denied them around 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson dissented from the second request.

Williams is expected to be executed around 6 p.m. CT.

This is a developing story…