A death row inmate in Missouri who has long claimed his innocence and is scheduled to be executed in less than one week asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday for a stay of execution, arguing his due process rights were denied during the yearslong legal battle to save his life.

Taking the life of Marcellus Williams would be an unequivocal statement that when a white woman is killed, a Black man must die. And any Black man will do,” read a part of the organization's letter.

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney will appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court a ruling upholding Marcellus Williams' conviction and sentence.

Williams was still set to die by lethal injection next week for the 1998 murder of former Post-Dispatch reporter Felicia “Lisha” Gayle in 1998.

Keith Larner, who was the prosecutor on Marcellus Williams’ murder case in St. Louis County, said he struck a potential juror because he was a young Black man with glasses.

The president of the NAACP is urging Missouri's governor to halt the execution of Marcellus Williams scheduled for Tuesday, writing that executing a Black man who says he was wrongfully convicted would amount to a “horrible miscarriage of justice.

Meanwhile, a clemency petition to Gov. Mike Parson emphasizes how relatives of the murder victim oppose the execution of Williams. And attorneys for Williams on Tuesday asked a federal court to reconsider a previous denial of an appeal alleging that Black prospective jurors were not selected for Williams' 2001 criminal trial because of their race.

Missouri corrections officers drenched an inmate with pepper spray and ignored his pleas for help for four hours, responding only when his screaming stopped as he died in the Tipton Correctional Center,