MONTGOMERY(AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court has denied a request to stop the execution of Forrest Parker, set for Thursday for a 1988 murder-for-hire killing in Colbert County.

Parker was convicted and condemned to die at Holman Prison in Atmore at 6 p.m. Thursday for killing 45-year-old Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, who was beaten and stabbed by two men who had been hired for $1,000 each by a third man.

Prosecutors said they acted on behalf of her husband, the Rev. Charles Sennett, who committed suicide a week after the killing.

The state Supreme Court voted 7-2 Wednesday to deny Parker’s request for a stay.

Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Justice Champ Lyons voted to stop the execution, while the other seven justices denied the request.

The 42-year-old Parker had asked the court to stop the execution because the trial judge overrode the jury’s recommended sentence of life in prison without parole.