VIDEO: GA Cop Killer Executed After 16 Years on Death Row

Convicted Georgia cop killer Gregory Lawler, 63, was executed Wednesday just before midnight, less than an hour after the Supreme Court of the United States denied his last-minute appeal for a stay.

Lawler ambushed two Atlanta police officers on October 12, 1997 -- Officer John Richard Sowa, and Officer Patricia Cocciolone.  He shot them both multiple times. He killed Sowa, and nearly killed Cocciolone, leaving her with permanent brain injury.  

Reporters who witnessed the execution said it took 15 minutes from the time of the lethal injection to the time of death, which was 11:49 p.m. ET.

They said the witnesses included Officer Cocciolone, now retired; Officer Sowa's widow and sister; and Fulton County D.A. Paul Howard, whose office prosecuted Lawler, and sought the death penalty.

Lawler was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000, WXIA TV reports.