This article originally appeared at Latest.com

On the day of the execution, Jerry Correll’s lawyers were holding out hope that the US Supreme Court would stay the quadruple murderer’s date with the death chamber.

It did not happen.

At approximately 7:46 pm, Jerry Correll was pronounced dead, the 22nd person to die in five years under Governor Rick Scott. His death took approximately 10 minutes and the inmate had a few minor convulsions and took some deep breaths before he died.

Correll’s stint on death row began in 1986 when he was found guilty of a 1985 grisly crime which included the murder of a five-year-old girl.

“Jerry Correll mercilessly and brutally killed four family members more than 30 years ago,” State Attorney Jeff Ashton said in a statement supporting the execution. “The Hines family and our community may finally get the justice a jury and judge believed is deserved.”

At the time of his sentencing, the judge was particularly disgusted by Correll’s torture and killing of the little girl.

Judge R. James Stroker noted Correll’s crime was “especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” pointing out that the small child lived for at least five minutes in terror and suffering from her wounds.

“It is difficult to imagine the degree of emotional anguish suffered by that dying child,” Stroker wrote in his sentencing brief. “She had apparently witnessed the brutal murder of her mother and experience the horror of her own father repeatedly driving a sharp knife in her chest.”

Prior to his execution, his lawyer’s had argued that the murderer’s execution should be postponed yet again because of lingering questions over the use of midazolam, the sedative used as part of the 3-part cocktail used by Florida, which they said would be particularly cruel to use on Correll due to his history of brain damage and drug use.

However, with a dissent from Justice Breyer, the US Supreme Court failed to intervene, paving the way for the execution to proceed.

Despite the atrocity of the crimes, a small group of anti-death penalty advocates still gathered at Florida State Prison to ring a gong and protest the execution inside.

Opposers of the death penalty are here outside the Florida State Prison to protest the execution of Jerry Correll. pic.twitter.com/XIALZrVul5

— Britneé McCoy (@BritneeMcCoy) October 29, 2015

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Some also took to social media to call for the end of the death penalty in America.

“Opposing the death penalty doesn’t mean condoning the crimes,” Twitter user Jamie Rocket wrote. “It means opposing state sanctioned executions of human beings.”

Yet other stressed when it came to Correll, the death sentence was deserved.

“It’s sad to say he sat around in jail for 30 yrs & we paid for it,” a classmate of 5-year-old victim said, according to investigative reporter Matt Grant.