Conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are under criticism for refusing to stop the execution of death row inmate Marcellus Williams of Missouri, who died by lethal injection on Tuesday evening.

Williams was sentenced to death in 2001 for the murder of Felicia Gayle, who was found stabbed to death in her St. Louis apartment in 1998. His lawyers made last-minute requests to the Missouri governor and Supreme Court, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, for a stay of his execution. But all three refused to intervene in the days before Williams’ death.

The Supreme Court justices split 6-3 in their decision on Tuesday. Liberal lawyers Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that they had granted the request for a stay.

The St. Louis County District Attorney’s Office pushed for a delay in Williams’ execution because of concerns about the makeup of the jury for the trial. DNA evidence recovered from the scene of Gayle’s murder also failed to link him to Williams.

Gayle’s family members had also requested that Williams’ sentence be reduced to life imprisonment. In a petition for clemency, they wrote that the family “defined closure as letting Marcellus live.” Missouri Governor Mike Parson wrote in a statement on Tuesday that Williams’ execution closed the chapter of a case that “dragged on for decades and left Ms. Gayle’s family repeatedly vulnerable to abuse.”

Several commentators have sharply criticized the conservative majority of the Supreme Court for rejecting Williams’ request to stay the proceedings. American author John Pavlovitz, a former Christian youth pastor, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday evening: “To hell with Supreme Court justices who have no regard for the lives of people of color.”

Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State University’s law school, also blamed the Supreme Court for Williams’ death, writing to X: “The state of Missouri murdered a man tonight. And the Supreme Court of the United States stood by and did nothing.”

“The so-called ‘pro-life’ members of the Supreme Court sentenced a man to death by execution despite overwhelming evidence that he was exonerated,” Charlotte Clymer, a U.S. Army veteran and activist, wrote on X. “These people don’t care about life. They only care about control.”

Missouri House Representative Cori Bush, who earlier in the day had asked the Supreme Court to intervene in Williams’ execution, accused her state and “deadly Governor Mike Parson” of “knowingly and wrongfully” executing an “innocent man” in a statement Tuesday evening.

“The state of Missouri and our nation’s legal system failed Marcellus Williams, and as long as we uphold the death penalty, we continue to perpetuate this depravity – killing an innocent human being in the name of justice,” the progressive Bush added.

Newsweek has reached out to the Supreme Court’s Public Relations Office for comment.

The Supreme Court has rarely granted stays of execution. But in July, the justices granted a last-minute stay for Ruben Gutierrez, a Texas death row inmate convicted in 1999 of killing an elderly woman during a robbery. Gutierrez’s lawyer argued that a DNA test would prove he was not involved in the murder. The stay was granted just 20 minutes before Gutierrez’s execution date.

Williams was escorted to the execution chamber by Imam Jalahii Kacem on Tuesday, and the Associated Press reported that Williams’ son and two lawyers were present at his death. His last meal was chicken wings and tater tots shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday. He died by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m.

The Missouri Department of Corrections shared a handwritten final statement from Williams Newsweek on Tuesday, which read: “Praise be to Allah in every situation!!!”