Billy Irick

Tennessee executed Billy Ray Irick on Thursday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final request to stay his execution. Convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer, Irick, 59, is the first state inmate to be put to death since 2009. He was also the first to receive Tennessee's new and controversial three-drug cocktail.

Tennessee is set to hold its first execution in nearly a decade on Thursday when it plans to put to death by lethal injection a man convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl he was babysitting.

Tennessee executed Billy Ray Irick on Thursday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final request to stay his execution. Convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer, Irick, 59, is the first state inmate to be put to death since 2009. He was also the first to receive Tennessee's new and controversial three-drug cocktail.

Tennessee is set to hold its first execution in nearly a decade on Thursday when it plans to put to death by lethal injection a man convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl he was babysitting.