Missouri saw on Wednesday its first execution by lethal injection this year after the US court declined to intervene in the case of a man convicted of murdering young woman 25 years ago.

Forty-seven-year-old Walter Storey died by lethal injection in the town of Bonne Terre, 25 years after he was convicted of killing his 36-year-old social worker neighbor.

Like Us on Facebook

Storey stabbed and beat her victim to death after he learned that his wife wanted to leave him and was preparing a divorce.

Missouri's state prison spokesman Mike O'Connell confirmed that the execution was carried out after the nine-member Supreme Court rejected Storey's appeal six hours prior to the execution.

Storey appealed to the Supreme Court to delay and study the planned execution, using the same argument as those of three death row inmates in Oklahoma.

The execution of the three death row inmates was delayed after the Supreme Court said it will study the case.

The Supreme Court, however, did not impose the same ruling on Storey.

Jennifer Herndon, Storey's lawyer, earlier told the court that Storey's execution should be delayed on grounds that the lethal injection technique is illegal because it can cause unreasonable suffering to inmates.

If the court had agreed to delay and study the Oklahoma cases, Storey's execution should have been delayed and studied also, the lawyer argued.

Execution by lethal injection became controversial last year when an exaction in Oklahoma, using midazolam, was botched and the inmate was seen writhing in pain until he died.

The court is scheduled to take up the issue on lethal injection this April.

The Death Penalty Information Centre said Storey's execution was the first in Missouri for the year and the eight execution for the entire country.

Tagslethal injection, Walter Storey