After nitrogen execution blocked, Alabama inmate to die by lethal injection
Alabama is set to execute a man with a chemical injection, months after a judge blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.
Jeffery Lee, a convicted murderer who killed two people during a 1998 pawnshop robbery, is set to die by lethal injection in Alabama on Thursday night. This execution comes three months after the original date was canceled due to a judge blocking the state from using nitrogen gas as the execution method. Lee, 49, was originally scheduled to be executed on June 11 using nitrogen gas, a method Alabama tested in early 2024 for the first time.
However, the execution was halted by District Judge Emily Marks, who ruled the nitrogen gas protocol as unconstitutionally cruel and a violation of Lee's constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. Following this decision, Alabama's attorney general's office quickly sought a new execution date, and Lee opted for lethal injection instead.
Despite a jury recommendation for life imprisonment, Lee's attorneys argue that the state should not be legally allowed to switch execution methods. Twenty-six inmates have been executed in the U.S. this year, including a Texas man who was put to death for a triple murder.
Written by urgent.news from CBS News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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