Joe Nathan James Jr., an inmate on death row convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, is still scheduled to be executed on Thursday in the southern U.S. state of Alabama despite the victim's family speaking out against the execution.

James, 49, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 murder of 26-year-old Faith Hall.

He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Eastern time (11 p.m. GMT).

He has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution "pursuant to the wishes of the surviving members of the family of the victim."

"The victims and their families are paramount in our justice system, and deserve to be heard on the matter of the ultimate punishment of offenders," James' lawyer said in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Hall's daughters, who were 6 and 3 years old when their mother was murdered, have said they want his life to be spared.

"I don't want it to go forward. We're not God," Terryln Hall told CBS 42.

"An eye for an eye has never been a good outlook for life," added her sister, Toni Hall.

James was convicted of shooting Faith Hall to death after she broke off their short relationship.

If his execution goes ahead, James would be the eighth person executed in the United States this year.