HUNTSVILLE — Texas inmate Michael Perry, 28, was executed Thursday for the slaying of a 50-year-old Conroe-area woman nine years ago.

Perry’s last words were full of emotion as he said good-bye to his family and friends witnessing his death.

“I want to start off by saying I want everyone to know what’s involved in this atrocity that they are forgiven by me,” he said from the death chamber gurney, his remaining statement almost muted by his sobs.

“Mom, I love you. I’m coming home, Dad. I’m coming home.”

As the drugs took effect, his eyes fluttered and he hiccupped four times. A single tear ran down his right cheek, prompting quiet sobs from his mother and an aunt and friends. The victim’s relatives gasped and motioned to each other.

Perry was pronounced dead just nine minutes later, at 6:17 p.m., making his the 14th execution to take place in the state this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court, about 90 minutes before the lethal injection, rejected a last-day appeal from Perry’s lawyers. They unsuccessfully argued they had new evidence showing Perry was already in jail when 50-year-old Sandra Stotler was murdered in 2001. They also contended a co-defendant and friend of Perry’s killed Stotler.

Prosecutors said a “mountain of evidence” pointed to Perry — most notably that he was seen driving Stotler’s stolen car and bragged about the killing before his arrest.

Holding a photo of Stotler, her daughter Lisa Balloun said she was glad she watched Perry die.

“Going in I thought it would be worse,” she said. “And I felt sorry for the family — it is not a good day for anybody.

“When we said he forgave us, I knew justice had been served,” she added. “I needed to see if he was the monster I built him up to be. Apparently, he is.”

Perry was convicted of shooting Stotler twice in the back at her home and stealing her red Chevrolet Camaro convertible. Testimony showed Perry and a friend, Jason Burkett, then dumped her body in a lake and returned to her Lake Conroe subdivision to wait for her son, Adam.

Prosecutors said Perry and Burkett lured Adam Stotler, 16, and his friend, Jeremy Richardson, 18, to a nearby wooded area, shot them dead and stole Adam Stotler’s SUV.

Two days later, Perry crashed the Camaro after a police chase. He was arrested and released on bond under Adam Stotler’s name because he had Stotler’s wallet and ID.

Sandra Stotler’s body was found the next day. Police then arrested Perry and Burkett in Stotler’s SUV after a shootout. Inside the truck, officers found the 12-gauge shotgun used to kill Sandra Stotler.

Perry never was charged with the two other slayings. Burkett is serving a life sentence for his role. A Montgomery County jury deliberated two hours to convict Perry; jurors took another six hours to send him to death row.

Among evidence against Perry was his DNA on a cigarette butt beneath one of the victims.

Perry also argued on appeal that a fellow jail inmate said Burkett took credit for the slayings. State lawyers said other courts had rejected the argument as self-serving for Perry and “rank hearsay.”

On Wednesday, Jonathan Green, 42, was spared from execution for abducting, raping and strangling a 12-year-old Montgomery County girl, Christina LeAnn Neal, a decade ago. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said it needed more information about his claims of mental incompetence.

The next execution, scheduled for July 20, is that of Derrick Jackson for the September 1988 slaying of two Houston men.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.