Alabama executed a 46-year-old man on Thursday June 8 for the 1994 murders of three fast-food workers during a late-night robbery, in the 13th execution this year in the United States.

Alabama put Robert Melson to death by lethal injection at 10:27 p.m. local time at its death chamber in Atmore,it was the second execution in Alabama in 2017.

Melson made no last statement and there were no complications with the execution, prison spokesman Bob Horton said.

Melson was convicted of murdering James Nathaniel Baker, 17, Darryl Collier, 23 and Tamika Collins, 18, during a robbery at a fried chicken fast food restaurant in Gadsden, about 115 miles northwest of Montgomery.

Lawyers for Melson tried to halt his execution, arguing a drug in the state’s lethal injection has been linked to troubled executions in Alabama, Arizona and Oklahoma, where inmates could be seen twisting on death chamber gurneys.

They said its used violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

The lawyers contend the drug, the sedative midazolam, does not render a person sufficiently unconscious for surgery and should not be used in executions where it is typically followed by a drug that halts breathing and another that induces cardiac arrest.

Last week, a federal appeals court in Atlanta issued a stay of execution for Melson because of the drug issue. Alabama appealed and the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted Melson’s stay, allowing the execution to proceed on Thursday.