Missouri has executed a man convicted of killing a jewellery store owner during a 1991 robbery, after last-minute appeals were rejected.
Herbert Smulls, 54, was put to death with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a fast-acting barbiturate.
He was pronounced dead at 10.20pm local time at a state prison in Bonne Terre, in what was Missouri's third execution since November and the third since switching to the new drug.
Lawyers for Smulls sought to block his execution on multiple grounds, arguing in part that the compounded pentobarbital drug Missouri used to kill him may not be as pure and as potent as it should be, which could cause undue suffering.
The US Supreme Court granted a temporary stay late on Tuesday but then revoked it, and cleared numerous appeals, including the final one that was filed less than 30 minutes before Smulls was pronounced dead.
The execution was brief: Smulls mouthed a few words to his two witnesses, who were not identified, then breathed heavily twice and shut his eyes for good.
Missouri and other states have turned to compounding pharmacies, which are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, to acquire drugs for executions after many manufacturers objected to their drugs being used in capital punishments.
The increasing use of untested drug mixes has brought renewed debate over the death penalty in the United States.
In 1991 Smulls called a jeweller to set up an appointment on the pretence that he wanted to buy a diamond for his fiancee. During the robbery, he shot dead the jeweller, Stephen Honickman.
Mr Honickman's wife, Florence, was also shot, but survived by faking death in a pool of her own blood until the assailants left.
"I felt pain and terror while I lay on the floor playing dead while the murderers ransacked our office," she said after the execution.
When police stopped Smulls 15 minutes after the robbery, they found stolen jewellery and weapons in his car.
Smulls' legal case was protracted over several appeals and over several years, finally ending in 2009 with the death sentence.
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