Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life

A Missouri man has been executed for the 1998 fatal stabbing of a woman despite calls by her family and the prosecutor’s office that put him on death row to let him serve out the rest of his life in prison. Marcellus Williams was executed Tuesday, becoming the third Missouri inmate put to death this year and the 100th since the state resumed use of the death penalty in 1989. He was convicted of killing Lisha Gayle, who was repeatedly stabbed during a burglary at her suburban St. Louis home. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene on his behalf Tuesday, a day after Republican Gov. Mike Parson denied Williams clemency and the state Supreme Court refused to halt the execution.