An Alabama inmate set to die on Thursday asked the governor for clemency, arguing his age at the time of the quadruple slaying he was convicted of should prohibit him from being executed.

Michael Samra, 42, is set to die by lethal injection at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore for his role in the 1997 slayings of two adults and two children at their Pelham home. He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution and a review of his case, but the nation’s highest court has not yet ruled.

Last week, one of Samra’s attorneys sent a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey asking for a reprieve until another state’s supreme court can decide whether offenders who committed their crimes under the age of 21 should be eligible for the death penalty.

Samra was 19 when he and his co-defendant, then 16-year-old Mark Duke, were charged with killing Mark Duke’s father Randy Duke, his fiancée Dedra Mims Hunt, and her two daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Nicole Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Marie Hunt. Samra was convicted of capital murder in 1998 and was sentenced to death for his role in the killings.

Samra’s attorneys Steven Sears and Alan Freedman have argued in court filings that the Eighth Amendment bans the execution of offenders- like Samra- who were under the age of 21 at the time of their crimes.

Sears wrote in a letter to Ivey, “The question of whether the U.S. Constitution permits the execution of 18-to-21-year-old offenders is percolating in the courts and is currently pending in the Kentucky Supreme Court. The Kentucky case arose after a trial court judge ruled that the reasoning supporting the U.S. Constitution’s ban on executing juvenile offenders extends to those over the age of 21. To prevent a miscarriage of justice and ensure that Alabama does not carry out an unconstitutional execution, Samra respectfully requests a reprieve until the Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled on the question that would determine whether Samra is categorically eligible for the death penalty.”

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court banned execution for people who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes. Sears has said this ruling should be modified due to “evolving standards of decency.”

In his latest petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, Samra’s attorneys argue the 2005 rule should be extended to 21 and again mention the Kentucky case. “The mitigating qualities of youth do not dissipate the day a youthful offender turns 18 years old,” the petition states. “Since [the 2005 decision], scientific studies have shown that during a person’s late teens and early 20’s, the brain continues growing and undergoes rapid changes in self-regulation and higher-order cognition.”

The petition continues, “Also, there is a burgeoning national consensus against executing young adult offenders. Since [the 2005 ruling] was decided, only 13 states have handed down 4 new death sentences to offenders under 21, and a majority of states, 30, would not permit the execution of a youthful offender. Notably, one Kentucky court, surveying the scientific research and national consensus, has concluded that Eighth Amendment line drawn in Roper must now be drawn at 21.”

“In the 14 years since this Court decided [case law], society’s standards have evolved rapidly to the point that the line drawn [in the 2005 case] can no longer be justified. Accordingly, Samra has shown a reasonable likelihood that he will prevail on his Eighth Amendment claim... Before it is too late, this Court should ensure that the Eighth Amendment does not categorically preclude him from receiving the law’s most severe and irreversible penalty.”

The state has replied to the petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing about the high court’s jurisdiction over the claim and calling Samra’s argument “meritless.”

“Finally, to the extent that Samra relies on a supposed national consensus against imposing capital punishment on persons who were under the age of twenty-one when they committed capital murder, his claim is meritless. There is no such consensus, which is made most obvious by Samra’s failure to point to a single state that has specifically eliminated the death penalty for defendants who are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one when they murder their victims,” the Alabama Attorney General’s Office wrote.

“Simply put, Samra’s allegation does not withstand scrutiny. His ‘national consensus’ and ‘clear and growing trend’ are made up out of whole cloth. Rather than citing to any instance in which any state has adopted his position, Samra points to two red herrings… What Samra ignores is that all of the states that fall in these categories still retain the death penalty as a sentencing option for persons who committed capital murder between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. At bottom, Samra has failed to show a ‘clear and growing trend’ because there is none.”

According to a spokesperson, the governor has received the request and “is carefully reviewing it.”

The execution is set to take place at 6 p.m. Thursday.