BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Attorneys for a man convicted in the 1987 shooting death of a Sylacauga convenience store clerk called the timing of the Alabama Supreme Court's decision, two days before Christmas, to set a spring execution date "sickening."

The court on Tuesday set March 19 for the execution of William Ernest Kuenzel on Alabama's Death Row inside the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The order setting the execution date was approved in an 8-1 decision, with Justice Greg Shaw dissenting.

Kuenzel had served 27 years, one month and six days on Death Row as of Wednesday.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office this fall requested an execution date be set for Kuenzel and a group of other inmates, according to The Daily Home, after a new lethal injection cocktail was approved for use. Executions had been delayed in Alabama while officials looked for a new drug combination.

Kuenzel's legal team on Wednesday issued a statement in response to the order and it's timing.

"This order is wrong and callous - plain and simple," according to the statement.

Kuenzel still has an appeal before the Alabama Court of Criminal appeals pending, his legal team stated. So they said it is "bizarre" the execution order would be set while that appeals court is still considering the case. The pending appeal involves "substantial legal issues of 'first impression,' according to the statement.

"Moreover, there is no reason in law to issue an order two days before Christmas - especially to set a date in March 2015," according to the statement. "The arbitrary timing of the order is sickening and contrary to the spirit of the holiday season," according to the defense team's statement.

Kuenzel's legal team stated they will challenge the order setting the execution date.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a March execution of a man who has spent nearly three decades on Death Row. His lawyers say setting the date and announcing it so close to Christmas was callous and uncaring.

A long process is involved to set an execution date with rules generally requiring notices be sent at least 30 days and no more than 100 days prior to an execution date.

Julia Jordan Weller, clerk of the Supreme Court of Alabama, declined comment when contacted by AL.com on Wednesday.

Kuenzel was convicted of capital murder in the 1987 shooting death of Sylacauga convenience store clerk Linda Offord. The judge sentenced him to death after a Talladega County jury unanimously recommended the death sentence.

Kuenzel, who has been on Alabama's Death Row at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore since his conviction in 1988, has maintained his innocence throughout his trial and appeals.

In February 2012 the Associated Press reported that Kuenzel's defense team had asked the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to grant a hearing based on new evidence. The defense team, the AP reported, had claimed to have uncovered information suggesting Kuenzel's roommate had a shotgun that could have been used in the killing, and that Kuenzel may not have been at the crime scene.

Kuenzel's roommate, Harvey Venn, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and testified against Kuenzel at trial.

The 11th Circuit denied the appeal. "While the 'new evidence' petitioner (Kuenzel) has offered might have strengthened Petitioner's defense if presented at trial, petitioner has not offered sufficient 'new evidence' of the powerful kind that would individually or collectively show that it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence," the court wrote in its opinion.

According to an Atlanta Journal Constitution story on the 11th Circuit hearing, Assistant State Attorney General Clayton Crenshaw argued that Kuenzel had unsuccessfully tried to point the finger at his roommate and to provide himself with an alibi. Kuenzel's mother also allegedly tried to bribe a witness to give Kuenzel an alibi, the AJC quoted Crenshaw.