Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams was put to death Tuesday after the Supreme Court declined to stop his execution.

The three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have granted the stay. The execution raised an outcry on the left, with some calling it a "lynching."

Williams, 55, was convicted of the brutal 1998 murder of a former journalist at her St. Louis home. The victim, Lisha Gayle, was found stabbed 43 times during a burglary.

Execution in Missouri

The governor of Missouri, Mike Parson (R), and the state's Supreme Court had also rejected Williams' appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court shot him down. Governor Parson said justice was served and Williams' claims of innocence were frivolous.

"No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams' innocence claims," Parson said.

Williams' lawyers challenged the conviction by claiming racial bias in jury selection and accusing prosecutors of mishandling the butcher's knife that was found lodged in the victim's body.

Prosecutors said Williams stabbed Gayle 43 times during a 1998 robbery at her home and made off with her husband's laptop and her purse. Gayle was a social worker and former journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The victim's family was opposed to the execution, calling instead for Williams to spend life in prison.

Critics see racial factor

The execution raised an outcry on the left, with the NAACP condemning Williams' death as a "lynching." The Innocence Project, a left-wing criminal justice reform group, said the outcome was determined by race.

"Mr Williams’ story echoes that of too many others caught in our country’s broken criminal legal system," the Innocence Project said in a statement. "A Black man convicted of killing a white woman, Mr Williams maintained his innocence until the very end."

The local prosecutor in St. Louis, Wesley Bell - who assumed office in 2019 - also opposed execution over doubts about DNA evidence. But Governor Parson said Williams' lawyers were trying to "muddy the waters" with claims that courts have rejected repeatedly.

Parson cited a "litany of factors" that led to Williams' conviction: the victim's possessions were found in Williams' car, and a jailhouse informant provided information about the crime that was non-public and consistent with crime scene evidence and Williams' involvement. Williams sold the stolen laptop to another individual who identified Williams as the seller.

At 6 p.m. CT, Williams was put to death by lethal injection.