Man Executed In Spite Of Prosecutor’s Objections Left Behind Touching Message Of Faith

After years of fighting to prove his innocence, 55-year-old Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams was executed in Missouri on Tuesday, leaving behind a touching and simple message as his last statement.

Prosecutors, Williams’ defense attorneys and the victim’s family agreed that his murder trial had been mishandled and that his life should have been spared. A groundswell of online supporters had called out the lack of evidence against him, and Williams had maintained that he was not involved in the 1998 murder for which he’d been convicted.

In spite of that, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson ® denied his request for clemency.

“All praise be to Allah in every situation!!!,” Williams wrote in a final statement that was filed with the state corrections department.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Williams’ attorney, described her client in a statement before his death as a “kind and thoughtful man, who spent his last years supporting those around him in his role as Imam.”

“We will remember him for his deeply evocative poetry and his love for and service to his family and his community,” Bushnell said. “While he yearned to return home, he is a thoughtful man who has worked hard to move beyond the anger, frustration, and fear of wrongful execution, channeling his energy into his faith and finding meaning and connection through Islam.”

The Innocence Project shared some of Williams’ poetry online. He told the organization that his most meaningful pieces were the ones he wrote to support and remember his fellow incarcerated people.

A predominately white jury found Williams guilty in 2001 for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who was found dead inside her home with 43 stab wounds. Williams was sentenced to