An Alabama inmate convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend decades ago was executed Thursday night despite pleas from the victim’s family for his life to be spared.

Joe Nathan James Jr. received a lethal injection at a southern Alabama prison after the US Supreme Court denied his request for a stay. Authorities said he was pronounced dead at 9:27 pm after the start of the execution was delayed nearly three hours.

James, 50, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994 for the shooting death of 26-year-old Faith Hall in Birmingham. Hall’s daughters have said they would prefer James to serve a life sentence, but Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Wednesday that she planned to let the execution proceed.

Prosecutors said James briefly dated Hall and became obsessed after she rejected him, harassing her for months before killing her. On Aug. 15, 1994, after Hall went shopping with a friend, James forced his way into his friend’s apartment, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Hall three times, according to documents. judicial.

Hall’s two daughters, who were 3 and 6 when their mother was killed, said they wanted James to serve a life sentence rather than be executed. Family members did not attend the execution.

“Today is a tragic day for our family. We have to relive the pain that this caused us many years ago,” read the statement issued through the office of state representative Juandalynn Givan. Givan was a friend of Hall.

“We hoped that the state would not take a life simply because a life was taken and we have forgiven Mr. Joe Nathan James Jr. for his atrocities towards our family. We pray that God will allow us to find healing after today and that one day our criminal justice system will hear the cries of families like ours, even if it goes against the wishes of the state,” the family’s statement read.

Ivey said Thursday that he always deeply considers the feelings of the victim’s family and loved ones, but “we must always live up to our responsibility before the law, public safety and justice.”

“Faith Hall, the victim of repetitive harassment, serious threats and ultimately cold-blooded murder, was taken from this earth too soon at the hands of Joe Nathan James Jr. Now, after two convictions, a unanimous jury decision and Nearly three decades on death row, Mr. James has been executed for capital murder and justice has been served for Faith Hall.

She said the execution sends an “unequivocal message. . . that Alabama supports victims of domestic violence.”

The execution began minutes after 9:00 p.m. CDT after a delay of nearly three hours. James did not open his eyes or show any deliberate movement at any point during the procedure. He didn’t speak when the warden asked if he had any final words. His breathing became labored, deep, pounding breaths, and slowed until he was no longer visible.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, responding to a question about why the execution was delayed, said the state is “very deliberate in our process to make sure everything goes according to plan.” He did not elaborate. Hamm also said that James, who showed no movement at any point, was not sedated.

The execution took place in a prison that houses the state’s death row. One inmate posted signs in a cell window calling the execution a “murder.”

A Jefferson County jury first convicted James of capital murder in 1996 and voted to recommend the death penalty, which a judge imposed. The conviction was overturned when a state appeals court ruled that a judge had wrongly admitted some police reports as evidence. James was retried and sentenced to death again in 1999, when the jury rejected defense claims that he was under emotional pressure at the time of the shooting.

James acted as his own attorney in his attempt to stop his execution, mailing handwritten demands and notices of appeal to the courts from death row. A lawyer filed the latest appeal to the US Supreme Court on his behalf on Wednesday. But the stay request was denied about 30 minutes before the execution began.

James asked the judges for a stay, citing opposition from Hall’s family and arguing that Alabama failed to adequately notify inmates of their right to select an alternative method of execution. He also argued that Ivey’s refusal violates religious freedom laws because the Koran and the Bible “place the concept of forgiveness as paramount in this situation.”

The state argued that James waited too late to start trying to postpone his execution and “should not be rewarded for his transparent attempt to cheat the system.”

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