NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee death row inmate David Earl Miller faces a Tuesday afternoon deadline to inform prison officials whether he wants to be executed by lethal injection or electrocution.

Miller is scheduled to die on Dec. 6 for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old Lee Standifer in Knoxville.

Lethal injection is Tennessee's preferred execution method, but inmates whose crimes were committed before 1999 have the option of choosing the electric chair.

A federal judge last week ruled against Miller in a case that challenged both methods of execution. On Monday, Miller's attorneys asked the court to reconsider.

In a separate case, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider arguments that Miller had bad lawyers at sentencing who did not retain experts to discuss his abusive childhood.