A death row inmate in Missouri who has long claimed his innocence and is scheduled to be executed in less than one week asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday for a stay of execution, arguing his due process rights were denied during the yearslong legal battle to save his life.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied the latest appeal by a man who has been on death row for 30 years after he was convicted of killing two college students.

The citizens of Mississippi have not. Finality of justice is of great import in all cases.” The court wrote that unnecessary and unjustified delays affect justice and fairness owed to victims and defendants,

The high court's 5-4 decision will keep Willie Jerome Manning, convicted of murder in 1994, in prison in which he's spent about half his life