U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas oversaw the final chapter of a convicted killer's long journey through the legal system. On Wednesday, the nation's high court declined to intervene in the death penalty case of Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, a former Marine who kidnapped, raped, and killed a 6-year-old girl in 1979 in Florida .

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," the terse order reads. "The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied."

The petition, filed Nov. 7, was an eleventh-hour effort by Jennings to escape his execution by lethal injection, which is scheduled to occur at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Florida State Prison just outside Starke — a small town located roughly 25 miles n

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