Overview
- The Supreme Court declined Thursday to lift a federal injunction that prevents Alabama from executing Jeffery Lee by nitrogen hypoxia, so the state could not carry out the scheduled execution that night.
- Two lower federal courts had concluded that Alabama’s nitrogen protocol creates a substantial risk of severe “air hunger” and ruled the method unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.
- Medical groups and eyewitness reports cited shaking, gasping and prolonged distress in prior nitrogen executions, while Alabama argued in court filings that the gas “rapidly causes death” and is humane.
- Judge Emily Marks found that a firing squad, which Lee requested, is a feasible less-harmful alternative and barred only nitrogen hypoxia while leaving other authorized methods open to the state.
- The rulings leave unresolved legal and policy questions for other states that authorize nitrogen executions and set up further appeals that could determine nationwide limits on execution methods.