Alabama to execute man despite objections of victim's family

A man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend is to be executed in the southern US state of Alabama on Thursday despite the objections of the victim's family.

Joe Nathan James, 49, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 murder of 26-year-old Faith Hall.

James is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7:00 pm Eastern time (2300 GMT).

He has petitioned the US Supreme Court to stay his execution "pursuant to the wishes of the surviving members of the family of the victim."

"The victims and their families are paramount in our justice system, and deserve to be heard on the matter of the ultimate punishment of offenders," James' lawyer said in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Hall's daughters, who were six and three years old when their mother was murdered, have said they want his life to be spared.

"I don't want it to go forward. We're not God," Terryln Hall told CBS 42.

"An eye for an eye has never been a good outlook for life," added her sister, Toni Hall.

James was convicted of shooting Faith Hall to death after she broke off their short relationship.

If his execution goes ahead, James would be the eighth person executed in the United States this year.