Estranged husband Bennie said of the incident that Byron shot his daughters out of spite.

“My kids, they were babies,” he later said. “They were smart, they were gonna be something. They never got the chance.”

Decades after he shot the mother and two children, he became the second man to be executed in Tennessee since May and the 28th person to be executed in the country this year.

When he was asked about whether he had any last words, he said, “No sir.” He was fitted with an IV line in his arm and his arms and chest were restrained.

During the administration of the lethal injection, he raised his head off his gurney several times while he breathed heavily.

“Oh, it’s hurting so bad,” he said.

A spiritual leader was sitting beside him, singing and praying.

“I’m so sorry. Just listen to my voice,” the advisor said to him.