MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to execute death row inmate Jeffery Lee by nitrogen hypoxia, escalating an emerge
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to execute death row inmate Jeffery Lee byIn an emergency application filed Thursday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency matters from the 11th Circuit, to stay or vacate a federal injunction blocking Lee’s execution by nitrogen gas.
The state argues that the lower courts wrongly barred Alabama from using a method Lee elected in 2018 and that has already been used in multiple executions in Alabama and Louisiana. Alabama told the Supreme Court that Lee’s case would be the nation’s ninth nitrogen hypoxia execution and Alabama’s eighth. The filing comes after U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks permanently enjoined the Alabama Department of Corrections from executing Lee under its nitrogen hypoxia protocol.
Marks issued that order after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the protocol poses a substantial risk of serious harm and sent the case back for further review. On remand, Marks found that Lee had shown firing squad would be a feasible and readily implemented alternative that would significantly reduce the risk of serious harm. The 11th Circuit later denied Alabama’s request to stay that injunction.
Alabama’s Supreme Court application argues the 11th Circuit went too far by treating “emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort” as enough to satisfy the Eighth Amendment standard. The state says nitrogen hypoxia is not physically painful in the way Lee alleges and argues that any breathing discomfort before unconsciousness does not rise to the level of unconstitutional cruelty. The state also challenges the lower court’s conclusion that firing squad is a better alternative.
Alabama argues firing squad is not painless, is not readily available under Alabama’s current execution setup and would require the state to find and train multiple skilled executioners. The state also cites concerns about error, pointing to South Carolina’s recent firing squad execution of Mikal Mahdi. Alabama further argues the equities favor the state because Lee has been on death row since 2000, previously elected nitrogen hypoxia and waited until 2025 to challenge the protocol.
The state says Lee’s execution has already been delayed for years and that the public and the victims’ families have an interest in the sentence being carried out. Lee was sentenced to death for the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a robbery at a pawn shop. His jury recommended life without parole, but the trial judge overrode that recommendation and imposed a death sentence.
Alabama has since abolished judicial override in capital cases, but the change was not made retroactive. The Supreme Court application asks the justices to vacate the district court’s injunction and permit the execution to proceed. Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting voted Wednesday to advance a constitutional amendment that would exclude churches from the denominA growing backlash is building over Visit Mobile’s celebration of Pride Month, and it is coming from inside the organization’s own leadership.
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