{"id":1788,"date":"2026-06-12T09:35:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:35:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:35:55","slug":"supreme-court-rejects-alabama-request-for-nitrogen-gas-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1788","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court rejects Alabama request for nitrogen gas execution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ATMORE, Ala. \u2014 The U.S. Supreme Court says Alabama cannot proceed with a nitrogen gas execution after a lower court ruled that the method is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

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The justices declined to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation\u2019s ninth execution by nitrogen gas. The decision spared death row inmate Jeffery Lee, 49, from being put to death by nitrogen Thursday night.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections said the execution was off for the evening and the state would not try another method.<\/p>\n

The ruling capped an extraordinary legal back-and-forth over the humaneness of the execution method.<\/p>\n

Lee filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama\u2019s protocol as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled the method constitutional in May.<\/p>\n

But a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her decision Monday, saying the three minutes it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an \u201cintolerable\u201d time frame \u201cgiven the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama\u2019s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marks reevaluated the case and ruled again Tuesday saying Lee had shown \u201cthat the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.\u201d The state appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied its request to move forward with the nitrogen execution.<\/p>\n

Marks did not block the state from executing Lee with one of the other approved methods, the electric chair or lethal injection. It is unclear how quickly the state could switch, however.<\/p>\n

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Alabama began using nitrogen gas to carry out some executions in 2024. The method involves strapping a respirator to a person\u2019s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from lack of oxygen.<\/p>\n

Nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States \u2014 seven times in Alabama and once in Louisiana. Lee was scheduled to be the ninth.<\/p>\n

Lee, who is currently housed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy\u2019s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner, and Thompson, an employee.<\/p>\n

A jury voted 7-5 to give Lee a sentence of life imprisonment. However a judge overrode that and sentenced him to death.<\/p>\n

Alabama ended the practice of judicial override in 2017 and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury\u2019s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Supreme Court says Alabama cannot proceed with a nitrogen gas execution after a lower court ruled that the method is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,6],"tags":[165,1245,1244,510],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","tag-alabama","tag-emily-marks","tag-jeffery-lee","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court rejects Alabama request for nitrogen gas execution - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1788\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court rejects Alabama request for nitrogen gas execution - 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