NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee executed child killer Robert Glen Coe by injection Wednesday, the first person to be put to death in the state in 40 years.
Coe, 44, was executed for the 1979 rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl.Tennessee was the only Southern state that has not executed anyone since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The last execution in Tennessee was in 1960.
In the last month, Coe had twice come within 16 hours of being executed. Both times, federal courts blocked his execution so they could review his mental competence. A federal appeals court found him mentally competent and the U.S. Supreme Court denied his latest appeal on Tuesday.
A state Supreme Court gave the final approval for the execution early Wednesday, overruling a lower court that had issued a temporary injunction over the execution method.
Coe's case has been in the legal system for more than 20 years since he confessed to raping and killing Cary Ann Medlin in Greenfield in western Tennessee.
He told authorities that he had intended only to rape her, but then "she told me that Jesus loves me, and that is when I got so upset and I decided to kill her."
Before he died, Coe said, "I forgive the state of Tennessee for murdering me for something I did not do. I'm not guilty of this crime, and that's the God's truth."
Charlotte Stout, Cary Ann's mother, said she didn't get the remorseful apology she's sought for more than 20 years, but she did find peace with his death.
"Please do not forget Cary's words -- 'Jesus loves you.' These are her legacy to her killer, to Robert Coe's family and to us. My child will finally rest in peace," she said.
Coe, then a 23-year-old mechanic, was arrested three days after the slaying as he was about to board a bus for Georgia. The black shoe polish he had used to dye his hair was still dribbling down his face.
His attorneys contend Coe's confession was coerced and driven by mental illness caused from years of physical and emotional abuse by his impoverished parents.
Some religious leaders had condemned the Tennessee Supreme Court for scheduling the execution during the holiest week on the Christian calendar and at the beginning of the Jewish Passover. Wednesday is the first evening of Passover and four days before Easter.
A spokeswoman for the court said the justices chose the date because it was one week from April 11, when the appeals court found him competent.
About 100 death penalty opponents gathered outside the gates of the prison on a cold, moonlit night.
"I feel very sorry for the Medlin family, for the Coe family and I feel very sad for the state of Tennessee," said Mary Elizabeth Hickman, a social worker. "Taking a human life is not the way to show respect for human life."
Some 50 death penalty supporters also demonstrated. "It's senseless to have him sitting inside for killing that girl, and having people outside feeling sorry for him," said Carol Harper, who said she went to the prison to show support for the Medlin family.