Alabama Execution

This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections on Thursday, June 11, 2026, shows Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for killing two people during a 1998 robbery at a pawn shop.

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Supreme Court nixes Alabama request for nitrogen execution, which lower court ruled unconstitutional

Supreme Court nixes Alabama request for nitrogen execution, which lower court ruled unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to let Alabama execute a man with nitrogen gas. The justices refused to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation’s ninth execution by that method. They declined to set aside lower court findings that it is unconstitutional. The decision caps a heated legal fight over the humaneness of the method. Alabama had planned to put 49-year-old Jeffery Lee to death Thursday using nitrogen. Lee was convicted of killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998.