{"id":356348,"date":"2026-06-11T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356348\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:27:09","slug":"alabama-asks-supreme-court-to-allow-thursdays-blocked-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356348\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow Thursday’s blocked execution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KIM CHANDLER<\/p>\n

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with\u00a0nitrogen gas<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday night, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside a judge\u2019s finding that the method violates the Constitution\u2019s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\n

Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday. However, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that nitrogen executions are unconstitutional and blocked the state from using the method to put Lee to death. The state filed an appeal Thursday asking the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling and allow the execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that ruling stands, it would be unprecedented in American history. Not only does it portend the first-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method, but it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment,\u201d lawyers with the Alabama attorney general\u2019s office wrote. The Supreme Court has never ruled that a state\u2019s execution method violates the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The case has put a spotlight on the nitrogen execution method and the sharp disagreements over its use.<\/p>\n

The execution method involves strapping a respirator to the person\u2019s face and replacing breathable air with\u00a0pure nitrogen gas<\/a>, causing death from a lack of oxygen. Nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States \u2014 seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Lee was scheduled to be the ninth person put the death by nitrogen.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled Tuesday, after an appeals court\u00a0reversed her initial finding<\/a>\u00a0that the method was constitutional, that Lee had shown by a \u201cpreponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.\u201d The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision Wednesday night, rejected Alabama\u2019s request to stay the ruling. The court earlier said the three minutes that 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

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo\/Kim Chandler)\n<\/p>\n

\"Jeffery<\/p>\n

This undated photo from the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for killing two people during a 1998 robbery at a pawn shop. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 2<\/p>\n

Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo\/Kim Chandler)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

During the previous Alabama nitrogen executions, the inmates shook, pulled at the restraints and exhibited labored breathing. During the state\u2019s last execution by nitrogen gas, 30 minutes elapsed between Anthony Boyd exhibiting signs of being impacted by the gas and state officials closing the curtain to the viewing room to signal the execution was complete.<\/p>\n

The state has maintained that the method is constitutional and causes no more suffering than other execution methods.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s attorneys said Alabama is attempting to move forward with an execution method that courts have found unconstitutional. His supporters have urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to commute his sentence to life imprisonment, which is the sentence that jurors at his trial had recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wants to execute Jeffery Lee under a death sentence the jury rejected using a nitrogen gas method that two federal courts have ruled unconstitutional. This execution is simply too flawed to move forward,\u201d Lee\u2019s lawyers said in a Wednesday statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain hopeful that Governor Ivey will intervene,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

A jury convicted Lee of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy\u2019s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.<\/p>\n

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017\u00a0ended the practice<\/a>\u00a0of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury\u2019s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.<\/p>\n

Marks did not block the state from using its other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. However, it is unclear if the state could swiftly change the method.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By KIM CHANDLER MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[28848,145194,145192,47515,145193,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-356348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-executions","tag-alabama-nitrogen-gas-executions","tag-death-penalty","tag-jeffery-lee","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}