Marcellus Williams appeals death sentence to U.S. Supreme Court

A Missouri inmate has appealed his death sentence case to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Marcellus Williams is asking the nation’s highest court to block the state’s scheduled execution of him next Tuesday.

Williams was convicted of the 1998 stabbing death of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia Gayle.

Williams asks whether due process prohibits Governor Mike Parson from terminating a state board’s investigation before its completion. 

He says under Missouri law, then-Governor Eric Greitens ordered a stay of execution in 2017, which was to continue until the board finished its work. 

The board had gone about six years without making a decision in the investigation, prompting Parson to disband the board.