Franklin, 63, was executed for the October 1977 sniper-style shooting of Gerald Gordon outside Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel Synagogue in suburban St. Louis as Gordon was leaving a bar mitzvah service.

Overall, Gordon was convicted of seven murders and claimed credit for 20 deaths, the Associated Press reported. He also bombed a Tennessee synagogue in July 1977. The execution was put forward after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon rejected Franklin’s plea for clemency, saying in a statement that Franklin had committed “merciless acts of violence, fueled by hate.”