ST. LOUIS (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for Missouri inmate Michael Worthington, who is scheduled for lethal injection for the rape and killing of a neighbor in 1995.

It is set to be the nation’s first execution since one in Arizona last month in which an inmate gasped more than 600 times while he lay on the table and took nearly two hours to die.

The court said late Tuesday that Worthington’s application for a stay was denied.

The 43-year-old Worthington had been sentenced to death for the September 1995 attack on 24-year-old college student Melinda “Mindy” Griffin during a burglary at her Lake St. Louis condominium.