The Nebraska Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to reconsider its decision that electrocution is unconstitutional.

The decision was handed down by the court in response to Attorney General Jon Bruning’s request for another hearing in the case. The court did not explain its decision.

It didn’t come as a surprise — Bruning had said he didn’t expect judges who made the landmark decision to change their minds.

“Nebraskans overwhelmingly support the death penalty. We’ll do everything possible to ensure the sentences of the state’s worst murderers are carried out,” he said Wednesday.

His office plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In February, the court ruled electrocution is cruel and unusual punishment when considering the case of Raymond Mata Jr.

Mata was convicted for the 1999 kidnapping and killing of 3-year-old Adam Gomez of Scottsbluff. Parts of the boy’s body were found in a freezer and dog bowl at Mata’s home. Bone fragments also were recovered from the stomach of Mata’s dog.

The court said in its February opinion that evidence shows that electrocution inflicts “intense pain and agonizing suffering” and that it “has proven itself to be a dinosaur more befitting the laboratory of Baron Frankenstein” than a state prison.

Nebraska was the only state with electrocution as its sole means of execution. The February ruling left the state with a death penalty, but no way of carrying it out.

Gov. Dave Heineman wants to replace electrocution with lethal injection, but has not said when the Legislature should consider approving it.

When state lawmakers will take it up will likely depend on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Lethal injection is under federal review in a Kentucky case that questions whether the execution drugs commonly used cause excruciating pain, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule by June.

Last month, the Legislature voted down a bill from Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha that would have abolished the death penalty in Nebraska.