Judge bars Alabama from using nitrogen gas in Jeffrey Lee execution
What's next: Alabama is appealing, and the dispute over nitrogen hypoxia could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
A federal judge permanently barred Alabama from executing death row inmate Jeffrey Lee with nitrogen gas, ruling the state's nitrogen hypoxia protocol violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks issued the order days before Lee's scheduled Thursday execution. An 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel had found the method posed a substantial risk of serious harm, including several minutes before an inmate loses awareness. Marks said Alabama may still carry out the sentence using another authorized method, and she noted Lee's preferred alternative is a firing squad. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's office filed an appeal. The case could become another test of execution methods before the Supreme Court.