James Earl Reed, 49, was executed by electric chair in South Carolina last night.

When the curtain to the death chamber was drawn, Reed was seated in a chair in the middle of the room, with leather straps at his wrists, biceps, chest, waist and ankles. A prison official placed a brown hood over Reed's face, on which there was also a cap connected to the ceiling by a thick, black cable.

A series of thumps followed a moment later, as Reed clenched his fists and his body stiffened, lurching back in the chair. Several minutes later, Reed's body relaxed and slumped forward slightly.

A technician then entered the chamber to disconnect the cable from Reed's head, and a physician checked his pulse and pupils before officials announced the time of death.

Reed had fired his lawyer and represented himself at trial. There were last minute appeals based on this week's Supreme Court ruling on self-representation at capital trials, to no avail.

States that have killed inmates since the Supreme Court ruling in Baze v. Rees: Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina.