(CNN) -- Convicted killer James Earl Reed was executed Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last-minute request for a stay, said Josh Gelinas, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
James Earl Reed had been set to die at 6 p.m. ET for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 1994, but at the last minute a federal judge granted a temporary stay of Reed's death warrant to give lawyers time to take their case to the high court.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts refused to the stay application and his decision was faxed to South Carolina's attorney general in time for the electrocution to be carried out before the midnight deadline, the prison spokesman said.
Reed was electrocuted at 11:27 p.m. ET. He was the first person to die in South Carolina's electric chair since 2004.
South Carolina, along with some other states, allows death-row inmates to choose lethal injection or the electric chair as a means of execution.
Reed represented himself during his murder trial. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that a state has the right to prevent a possibly schizophrenic man from defending himself.
At issue in the Indiana case was whether the right of a defendant to represent him- or herself applies to those who are competent enough to stand trial but perhaps not competent enough to mount a legal defense. The state wanted a higher standard of competency for defendants representing themselves rather than those standing trial with the assistance of an attorney.
In light of that decision, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Floyd ruled that Reed's case needed further review, court officials said.
Floyd was ruling on a motion to stay Reed's execution filed 20 minutes before his time to die; the ruling was issued a few minutes after 6 p.m.
All About Capital Punishment • South Carolina
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