Judge permanently blocks Alabama from executing inmate with nitrogen gas
A federal judge has blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas, ruling that the method violates the Eighth Amendment's protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The order was made as part of a plea from inmate Jeffery Lee, who was convicted of two counts of murder and preferred a firing squad method of execution. The case may be appealed to the Supreme Court, which has previously allowed nitrogen hypoxia execution to proceed in other cases.
- ▪Alabama is one of five states where execution by nitrogen gas is legal, alongside Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
- ▪The state's Department of Corrections is permanently enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia execution.
- ▪Jeffery Lee proposed a firing squad as his method of execution, which the judge found to significantly reduce the risk of severe pain.
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A federal judge blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas, ruling that the method violates the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama Emily Marks ordered that the state’s Department of Corrections is permanently enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia execution. The order came as part of the plaintiff Jeffery Lee’s plea for a firing squad method of execution instead of nitrogen hypoxia after he was convicted on two counts of murder, which he committed while robbing a store.
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