Starke, Fla. ? A convicted killer who argued that Florida’s use of lethal injection amounted to cruel and unusual punishment was put to death Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly denied him another stay.

Clarence Hill, 48, was executed in Starke for the 1982 murder of a Pensacola police officer in a savings and loan robbery.

Hill had argued that the three chemicals used in Florida executions and by many other states – sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride – can cause excruciating pain.

In January, Hill was strapped to a gurney and his arms were hooked up to IV tubes before the Supreme Court stopped his execution. In June, in a 9-0 vote, the high court ruled that Hill could mount a challenge to the chemicals under a civil rights motion.

However, a district court in Tallahassee and an appeals court in Atlanta refused to hear those challenges, ruling that Hill should have filed earlier. An appeal was again filed with the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 on Wednesday to deny another stay.