A MAN WHO was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of her five-year-old son has been executed in the US.

Scott Morrow (52) was put death by lethal injection at a prison in Jackson, Georgia.

Shortly after Christmas in 1994, Morrow broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house, where she was with two friends and her children.

Morrow shot the three women, killing two of them, including his former girlfriend, in front of her five-year-old son. 

He was convicted of the double murder and sentenced to death in 1999, but the decision was overturned in 2011 on the grounds that his trial defence was poor because his lawyers had failed to note he had been abused and raped as a child.

The Georgia Supreme Court then reversed that decision, confirming the original verdict from 1999. 

On Wednesday, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles dismissed a clemency request from supporters, who claimed he had become a model prisoner who was sorry for his crimes.

On Thursday, lawyers made a final appeal to the US Supreme Court, after the state Supreme Court rejected a clemency bid.

He is the fifth person executed in the US so far this year. 

Last week 44-year-old white supremacist, John William King was executed by lethal injection at a prison in Texas.

Capital punishment has been a hot topic across America in recent years with states such as Delaware in 2016, and Washington in 2018, removing the death penalty. 

Some 20 states have now outlawed being sentenced to death for committing a crime.

With reporting from - © AFP 2019