The state of Alabama has executed a man over the 1994 murder of his ex-girlfriend despite pleas from the victim's family to refrain from taking away the man's life.
As reported by CNN, Joe Nathan James Jr. was given a lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore on Thursday night.
The execution took place just two days after the US Court of Appeals rejected a motion to stay his execution. He was pronounced dead at 9:27 PM local time.
According to ADOC Public Information Officer Kelly Betts, James had a final phone call to his mother a day before his execution.
"Justice has been served. Joe James was put to death for the heinous act he committed nearly three decades ago: the cold-blooded murder of an innocent young mother, Faith Hall," Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a news release on Thursday.
In 1996, James was convicted of fatally shooting 26-year-old Faith Hall in Birmingham and was later given the death sentence.
Hall's daughters argued that James should serve a life sentence in prison. However, Alabama governor, Kay Ivey, stated on Wednesday that the execution would take place regardless.
In response to the governor's call to proceed with the execution, Hall's family said in a statement published by the local TV station WIAT:
"Today is a tragic day for our family. We are having to relive the hurt that this caused us many years ago. We hoped the state wouldn’t take a life simply because a life was taken and we have forgiven Mr Joe Nathan James Jr …
"We pray that God allows us to find healing after today and that one day our criminal justice system will listen to the cries of families like ours even if it goes against what the state wishes. Our voices matter and so does the life of Mr Joe Nathan James Jr."
James was said to have had a brief romance with Hall, later becoming obsessed with her after she rejected him and proceeded to harass and stalk her for months, before eventually going on to shoot her dead.
Per court documents, James managed to get inside her friend's apartment on August 15, 1994 and shot Hall three times.
A jury found James guilty of capital murder and voted to recommend the death penalty, which was imposed by a judge.
This was overturned when a state appeals court ruled a judge had wrongly submitted police reports as evidence for the jury. James had a retrial in 1999 and was again sentenced to death.
Hall's daughters were aged three and six when they lost their mother. The two said they would rather James serve life in prison.
"I just feel like we can’t play God. We can’t take a life. And it’s not going to bring my mom back," Terryln Hall told The Associated Press.
"We thought about it and prayed about it, and we found it in ourselves to forgive him for what he did. We really wish there was something that we could do to stop it."