Louisiana used nitrogen gas to put a man to death Tuesday evening for a killing decades ago, marking the first time the state has used the method as it resumed executions after

The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling just hours before the execution, declined to halt the execution. On Friday, a federal appeals court vacated a preliminary injunction blocking the execution granted by a lower judge.

In Louisiana's gas execution method, a death row inmate would be forced to breathe the pure nitrogen through a gas mask fastened tightly to their face for either 15 minutes or for 5 minutes after the inmate's heart rate reaches a flatline on an EKG, whichever is longer.