Supreme Court rejects Alabama request for nitrogen gas execution

ATMORE, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court says Alabama cannot proceed with a nitrogen gas execution after a lower court ruled that the method is unconstitutional. The justices declined to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation’s ninth execution by nitrogen gas. The decision spared death row inmate Jeffery Lee, 49, from being put to death by nitrogen Thursday night. A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections said the execution was off for the evening and the state would not try another method. The ruling capped an extraordinary legal back-and-forth over the humaneness of the execution method. Lee filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s protocol as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and U.S.

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