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Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams has been executed despite prosecutors’ protestations of his innocence.

Williams, 55, was convicted of the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post Office.

His last words were, “Praise be to Allah in every situation!!!” Williams’ Imam, Jalahii Kacem, visited him Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. He and Williams’ son, Marcellus Williams Jr., were in the execution chamber when authorities administered the lethal injection.

His last meal was served at 10:53 a.m. and consisted of chicken wings and potato croquettes. He was one of four men sentenced to death this week. Travis Mullis, an inmate on Texas’s death row, was executed about an hour later for killing his baby son.

Williams’ death is the third execution in Missouri this year and the 15th in the country.

“Tonight we are all witnesses to Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power,” Williams’ attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, said in a statement. “Do not let this be in vain. This must never happen, and we must not allow it to continue.”

According to WEproject, a nonprofit that campaigned against William’s death, more than a million petitions were delivered to Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s office requesting a stay of execution.

Well-known figures including British entrepreneur Richard Branson and US Congresswoman Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, called on Parsons to spare Williams’ life.

But both Parsons and the Supreme Court declined to intervene, despite Williams’s petition for clemency, in which he detailed how Gayle’s family members wanted his sentence commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The inmate’s lawyers filed two last-minute petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, both of which were denied before he was put to death at 6:10 p.m. CT.

Three justices — Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonia Maria Sotomayor — denied the second request, which focused on new DNA evidence and prosecutors’ claims that Williams may be innocent.

Williams’ lawyers said DNA evidence on the knife used in the attack led to an unknown male profile and did not match Williams. The court dismissed a hearing on the claim on Saturday.

“There is no basis for any court to find Williams innocent, and no court has made such a finding,” wrote St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton. “Williams is guilty of first-degree murder and is sentenced to death.”

Prosecutor officials recently filed a motion to overturn his conviction.

A trial judge granted their motion, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey challenged the decision. The case was then sent back to the same trial judge, who overturned his original ruling.

During his murder trial, Williams’ attorneys described him as “a caring and loving father.” His family and friends had said his execution would have “a significant impact on his family.”

Before leaving office, Missouri Governor Eric Greiten issued a stay of execution for Williams in 2017. He appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the case and recommend a pardon. Governor Parson disbanded the commission and lifted the stay in 2023, after his election.

Describing Gayle’s murder during the trial, prosecutors said Williams broke into her home, heard the shower running and found a large butcher knife. Gayle was stabbed 43 times when she came downstairs. Williams stole her purse and laptop, officials said.

It was the third time the Missouri Department of Corrections had tried to put Williams to death. In 2015, the state Supreme Court halted his execution for more DNA testing. During the second attempt, Greiten granted him a stay.