Alabama set to execute man for pawn shop killings months after his nitrogen gas execution blocked

Alabama is scheduled to execute Jeffrey Lee, 49, via lethal injection on Thursday evening at 6 p.m., three months following a judge's order halting the state's use of nitrogen gas for execution. Lee is set to carry out a 1998 pawn shop robbery in rural Dallas County, resulting in the deaths of two individuals. The initial plan was to execute Lee using nitrogen gas on June 11, but this was halted by a judge's ruling.

The Alabama attorney general's office promptly filed paperwork requesting a new execution date for Lee, this time opting for a chemical injection method. Lee and his supporters are seeking a final reprieve, pointing out that the jury in his case recommended life imprisonment, which the judge overruled. His legal team argues that the state should not be legally allowed to switch execution methods.

Twenty-six inmates have been executed in the U.S. so far this year, including a Texas man put to death by lethal injection for a triple murder. Georgia also blocked a plan to execute a man who killed two real estate agents on December 12, 1998.