Billy Irick, 59, became the 15th inmate to be executed in the US this year, and the first in Tennessee since 2009.
He spent over three decades on death row after murdering a 7-year-old girl he was babysitting.
Tyler Tracer, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, reported that Mr Irick was put to death at the Riverbed Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
He was pronounced dead at 7.48pm local time (1.48pm BST).
Mr Irick was convicted in 1986 for the death of Paula Dyer in Knoxville, and had been a boarder in the home where Paula lived with her family.
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The execution proceeded on Thursday after the US Supreme Court denied Mr Irick’s request to stay.
Mr Irick’s lawyers argued that he had suffered from psychosis for his whole life, and that putting him to death would breach US laws barring the execution of individuals suffering from severe mental disorders.
The decision drew sharp criticism from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who raised concern surrounding the methods of capital punishment used in Tennessee.
In a damning statement, she said: “In refusing to grant Irick a stay, the Court today turns a blind eye to a proven likelihood that the State of Tennessee is on the verge of inflicting several minutes of torturous pain on an inmate in its custody.”
“If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well experience, then we have stopped being a civilised nation and accepted barbarism.”
More to follow…