Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, Feb. 24, in Florida for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford, who ran a grocery store in Palmetto.

Langford was stabbed seven times with a butcher knife by Trotter, a crack addict, during a robbery while she was working alone, and she later died of cardiac arrest on the way to surgery.

Trotter stole around $100 and some food stamps, which he used to buy crack cocaine.

His attorneys argued he should be spared because he was high at the time and had no control over his actions, claiming the murder was not premeditated, USA Today has reported.

The case has spanned 40 years, and Langford’s family, some of whom have since passed away, have long awaited justice.