Alabama inmate can be executed using nitrogen gas, judge rules

A federal judge has ruled that Alabama’s plan to carry out an execution using nitrogen gas is constitutional, allowing the state to move forward with the procedure as scheduled.

Court Upholds Nitrogen Execution Protocol

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling on Thursday, effectively rejecting an attempt by Jeffery Lee’s legal team to stay his upcoming execution. Lee, who was convicted in a 1998 double murder outside of Selma, is set to face the death penalty on June 11 at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Defense attorneys had argued that the nitrogen hypoxia method violates the Eighth Amendment by causing cruel and unusual punishment. While Judge Marks acknowledged that the procedure may involve some level of suffering, she emphasized that the Constitution does not mandate a painless death.

“Because the Constitution does not guarantee inmates a painless death, Lee must do more than show a risk of pain—he must show that the Protocol causes severe pain, pain that is ‘well beyond what’s needed to effectuate a death sentence,’” Marks stated in her order, citing Supreme Court precedent.

Background on the Case

Lee has spent 25 years on death row following his conviction for the murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery in Dallas County, as well as the attempted murder of Helen King. Notably, while the jury originally recommended a sentence of life without parole by a 7-5 vote, a judge overrode that decision to impose the death penalty. Although legislation passed in 2017 banned judges from overriding jury recommendations, the law was not made retroactive.

History of the Nitrogen Method

If the state proceeds, Lee would be the seventh individual put to death in Alabama using nitrogen gas. The method, which involves the inmate breathing pure nitrogen through a mask until they lose consciousness, has remained a point of legal contention. Lee's legal counsel, alongside other attorneys representing death row inmates, have argued that the process inflicts unnecessary terror and pain.

Alabama first utilized this protocol during the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25, 2024. In the legal challenges following that, inmates have proposed several alternatives to the current method, including the use of a firing squad, specific sedative-assisted nitrogen protocols, or intramuscular injections of fentanyl and ketamine.

Attorneys for Lee are currently appealing the judge's latest ruling as 205focus.com continues to monitor the situation in Atmore.