Georgia killer executed after lethal injection moratorium

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend was executed Tuesday.

William Earl Lynd was the first inmate to die by injection since September, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination represented cruel and unusual punishment.

The process began at 7:34 p.m. and ended 17 minutes later at 7:51 p.m., said Paul Czachowski, public affairs manager for the Georgia Department of Corrections. "The condemned declined to make a last statement or accept a prayer; he remained quiet and calm throughout the whole procedure," he said.

Lynd, 53, had requested as his last meal two pepper jack BBQ burgers with crisp onions, two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese and a large strawberry milkshake -- all from a local restaurant.

The U.S. Supreme Court had refused to stay Lynd's execution hours earlier Tuesday.

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied," the court said.

Georgia became the first state to resume executions since the court validated the lethal injection process last month with a ruling in a Kentucky case.