A Missouri judge denied a motion to vacate a condemned man's death sentence despite attorneys, including one prosecutor, saying evidence was mishandled in the 1998 trial that could have exonerated Marcellus “Khaliifah” William.

Faith leaders in Missouri urge clemency for Marcellus Williams, a Black man on Death Row, highlighting racial injustice and the death penalty.

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

Williams' case demonstrates how the death penalty in America is meted out in the most arbitrary manner—to those denied adequate legal counsel, those facing racial discrimination at trial, those railroaded to death on “technicalities,

This February 2014 file photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Marcellus Williams. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Gov. Mike Parson was within his right to dissolve a board of inquiry that was looking into an innocence claim by death row inmate Marcellus Williams.

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.

"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," wrote NAACP president Derrick Johnson.