MIAMI, United States - Florida put to death Thursday a former truck driver who murdered three young women in 1986 and made headlines again after one of his defense team fell in love with him.

Convicted serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin, 53, became the first to be executed in the United States this year after receiving a lethal injection at 10:16 pm (0316 GMT Friday), a local prison administration official told AFP.

Bolin was also convicted of kidnapping and rape in another case.

He appealed all his convictions and was retried for each of the killings on procedural grounds, but was again convicted. His victims were aged 17, 25 and 26.

Bolin was equally notorious after a legal assistant on his defense team left her husband for him.

Rosalie Martinez, wife of a prominent local lawyer and mother of four children, married Bolin in 1996 when he was inside on live television, triggering renewed media scrutiny.

She campaigned for two decades to save him.

Twenty-eight people were executed in the United States in 2015, the lowest figure since 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.