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McALESTER, Okla. - Convicted killer Eric Allen Patton was executed Tuesday night at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, becoming the third Oklahoma inmate put to death this year.

Patton, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. CDT, Oklahoma Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency application, filed by Patton's attorneys, for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Patton was convicted of the Dec. 16, 1994, murder of Charlene Kauer during a robbery at her Oklahoma City home.

During Patton's execution, state corrections officials planned to use a slightly different lethal drug recipe for the first time. The new system _ in part a response to a challenge filed by Patton _ was to deliver a larger dose of anesthesia before the fatal drugs were administered.

Patton received his last meal on Tuesday afternoon _ a large pepperoni pizza with sausage and extra mushrooms and a large grape soda. The cost of the meal is limited to $15.

Patton had challenged the state's execution procedure, arguing that inmates may be subjected to pain during lethal injection. Although a federal judge rejected that argument earlier this month, the state Department of Corrections revised its execution procedure.

Under the new system, inmates will receive a larger dose of the sedative sodium thiopental, which causes unconsciousness, before getting injected with vecuronium bromide, which stops breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said the change would reduce what he described as an extremely unlikely chance an inmate might wake up after the sedative had been administered and before the lethal drugs took effect.

Patton, who had a lengthy criminal record of burglaries and robberies in Oklahoma and California, was accused of attacking Kauer after he knocked on her door and asked her for money.

Kauer, then 56, had taken the day off work from her job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield to do some Christmas shopping, according to court documents.

Les Kauer discovered his wife's nude body at the couple's home with multiple stab wounds from several knives, a barbecue fork and a pair of scissors that were left protruding from her chest, court records show.

Patton, who had previously done some painting work for the couple, was arrested 13 days after the murder when fingerprints he gave police matched those on a bloody barbecue fork found at the scene.

"The tragic thing about this case is that it reflects the classic scenario of the good couple who bring the human snake inside, and he ends up biting them," Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said. "This execution won't bring anybody back, but it will certainly ensure he won't ever do this again."

Patton later confessed to the crime, but claimed in his appeals that he was so intoxicated and high on cocaine that he could not form the intent to kill.

Les Kauer said Monday that Patton's execution would do little more than stir up painful memories.

"It's kind of hard to speculate as to whether this will bring closure," Kauer said from his Oklahoma City home. "I hope it does for all of my family that has been involved in this thing."

The Kauers' daughter, Julie Lambert, wrote a letter to the state Pardon and Parole Board last month asking that they deny clemency for Patton. In the letter, Lambert wrote that her mother was an outgoing, kind woman who tried to help others and especially enjoyed the holidays.

"Holidays were exciting times, with Christmas being her favorite," she wrote.

"Needless to say, holidays are not the same now, especially Christmas, since her death was the week before her favorite holiday."