Georgia's top court is allowing the videotaping of a death row inmate's execution in what would likely be the United States' first video-recorded execution in almost two decades.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Fulton County judge's order that a recording of Andrew Grant DeYoung's execution could be made and then placed under seal. The justices voted 4-3 to deny DeYoung's bid to halt the 7 p.m. execution.

Death penalty experts say it would be the first known recording of an execution since 1992. In that California case, the state's method of execution using lethal gas was under challenge.

The request for the videotape was made by lawyers for another death row inmate challenging whether the use of the sedative pentobarbital causes needless suffering.