Missouri Supreme Court to consider death row case a day before scheduled execution

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday as attorneys working on behalf of Marcellus Williams seek to save him, just a day before his scheduled execution.Oral arguments were scheduled for Monday morning in the hearing before the state Supreme Court. Williams, 55, is set to die by injection Tuesday evening for the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle in University City, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb.This undated booking photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Marcellus Williams. Photo credit: Missouri Department of Corrections via The Associated PressWilliams has long maintained his innocence. DNA evidence raised enough questions that a previous governor halted an execution in 2017, and St. Louis County’s current prosecutor challenged Williams’ guilt in a court hearing last month.Attorneys for Williams also have an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, a clemency request before Gov. Mike Parson focuses largely on how Gayle’s own relatives want the sentence commuted to life in prison without parole. The national NAACP also is urging Parson, a Republican, to stop the execution of Williams, who is Black.The execution would be the third in Missouri this year and the 15th nationwide.Williams was hours away from...