non-life-threatening. a man from missouri is set to be executed tonight, despite new dna evidence that may prove he is not the person that brutally stabbed a woman to death two decades ago. cnn s scott mcclain is live in missouri with more. tell us about this story, scott. reporter: good morning, alisyn. if the state of missouri has its way, the next time marcellus williams goes to sleep, he won t wake up. he is inside this prison south of st. louis waiting to executed by lethal injection in less than 12 hours from now. his lawyers say that new dna evidence shows he s innocent, but it is not clear whether that evidence will convince the u.s. supreme court to stop the execution. it s an innocent man getting murdered and it s not right. reporter: marcellus williams jr. was only 8 when his father was arrested for murder. almost two decades later marcellus williams sr. is scheduled to be executed at 6:00 tonight for the state it s justice, to his son it s murder.
williams but three other analysts including greg hampekian said the evidence is enough to rule him out. this knife was handled rigorously. it was rubbed, and friction is what transfers dna. so whoever handled this knife likely left dna. it is not march lel succeellus . reporter: the state supreme court disagreed, allowing the execution to ag ahead. now at the 11th hour an appeal to the u.s. supreme court. josh holly said based on the another non-dna evidence in this case our office is confident in marcellus williams guilt. as he waits for a decision the younger williams says his father is at peace with whatever comes next. i mean if tomorrow is his last day i ll be with him and watch, to be there for him and support him in his last time, his last hour. reporter: the supreme court is expected to have a decision
the victim being a white woman, him being black, muslim, a towering figure, they re going to make an example. reporter: williams was convicted of killing 42-year-old felicia gale inside of her home in 1998. she was found with more than 40 stab wounds and a kitchen knife still lodged in her body. the case hinged on the testimony of two other criminals, williams former girlfriend and the cell mate he bunked with serving time for an unrelated crime. williams was also tied to stolen items from gale s home. and nearly all-white jury convicted williams of murder, sentenced him to die. but now the defense has new dna evidence it says proves williams is innocent. what does the dna evidence show in your mind? that he did not hold the murder weapon and the murder weapon was found in the victim s body. reporter: it was enough to delay the first execution date while experts examined the dna on the knife. the first would not exclude