Marcellus Williams was executed in Missouri. Read his final words, and his poetry

Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams’ final statement before he was executed Tuesday night in Missouri was one of simplicity and faith.

He wrote, “All praise be to Allah in every situation!!!”

The 55 year old was a devout Muslim and a religious leader at Potosi Correctional Center, the state prison south of St. Louis which houses death row prisoners.

He was recently transferred to the nearby Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, where executions take place.

On Tuesday afternoon, his last visit was with Imam Jalahii Kacem, who later accompanied him in the execution chamber.

Williams maintained that he was innocent in the killing of Felicia Gayle, who was found stabbed to death in August 1998 in the St. Louis area. No forensic evidence linked him to the murder, but two witnesses testified that he had confessed to them. They have since died.

The St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office, which tried his case in 2001, attempted to overturn his conviction earlier this year.

On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denied clemency. A series of last ditch appeals ultimately were rejected this week. Three U.S. Supreme Court justices favored granting him a stay of execution.

Williams’ execution drew statewide protests and nationwide outrage.

He was declared dead at 6:10 p.m. Tuesday. The state uses lethal injection in its executions.

Williams’ legal team said they were “devastated and in disbelief over what the State has done to an innocent man,” but were “comforted that he left this world in peace.”

“To us, Khaliifah was an inspiration,” federal public defenders said in a statement. “We aspire to his level of faith, to his integrity, and to his complete devotion to the people in his life. He was fiercely protective of the people he loved, and he loved deeply.”

They also said Williams’ case showed how racial discrimination is ignored in the justice system and that transparency was “woefully missing” in Parson’s decision denying clemency.

Last year, the governor disbanded a board of inquiry that had been set up under a previous administration to look into Williams’ case. Parson has never said if the board reached a recommendation or what that recommendation may have been.

Parson said in a statement provided by the corrections department that he hopes this gives finality to the victim’s family.

“No juror nor judge has ever found Williams’s innocence claim to be credible,” Parson said in the statement. “Two decades of judicial proceedings and more than 15 judicial hearings upheld his guilty conviction, thus, the order of execution has been carried out.”

Gayle’s family did not support capital punishment in Williams’ case.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, an attorney for Williams with the Midwest Innocence Project, said his execution illustrated “Missouri’s grotesque exercise of state power.”

“Let it not be in vain. This should never happen, and we must not let it continue.”

Williams was also a father and a poet. In a poem entitled “An Affair of I” sent to The Star earlier this year, Williams wrote, in part:

devious smiles

nervous grins

political sins

legal flips and spins

fingers begin to bend to form a fist then -

handshakes weakened

cordiality and decorum ends

constitution blowing in the wind

panel dismantled according to whims

governor’s patience wearing thin

“been going on too long”

- been alive too long is what they intend

execution date sought how dare anyone question why?

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

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Katie Moore was an enterprise and accountability reporter for The Star. She covered justice issues, including policing, prison conditions and the death penalty. She is a University of Kansas graduate and began her career as a reporter in 2015 in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.