USA - Jeffery Lee (AL)

USA - Alabama. US Supreme Court leaves stay against Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions in place

June 11, 2026:

June 11, 2026 - Alabama. US Supreme Court leaves stay against Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions in place

Blocking the execution of Jeffery Lee

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday (June 11) upheld 2 lower court rulings (see HoC 09/06/2026) that found Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution protocol unconstitutional, ending for now a short but intense legal battle over Alabama’s execution methods; what constituted an acceptable level of suffering in an execution and the state’s obligations to offer alternative methods that could be less painful.

In a brief, 2-sentence order, the court denied a request from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to stay a district court’s ruling banning nitrogen gas executions and allow the state to put Jeffery Lee to death Thursday evening. There were no opinions attached to the ruling. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

Lee, 49, Black, was convicted of the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery. The trial jury voted 7-5 to sentence Lee to life in prison, but the trial judge imposed a death sentence.

Since 2024, Alabama has executed 7 men using nitrogen gas. Witnesses to the executions have often reported inmates convulsing and gasping for breath during the procedure.

Lee argued that the state’s nitrogen gas protocol violated his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment, and said he should be executed by firing squad, which his attorneys argued was feasible and a less painful manner of execution.

U.S. District Court Judge Emily Marks ruled in May that those executed under Alabama’s nitrogen gas protocol are exposed to “air hunger” and would experience pain for one to three minutes, but said that did not rise to the level that would count as cruel and unusual punishment.

A 3-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit of Appeals reversed the ruling on Monday, saying air hunger went “over and above the mental distress that typically accompanies the knowledge of impending death by execution.” The judges sent the case back to federal district court to evaluate whether executing by firing squad is a reasonable alternative.

Marks ruled that death by firing squad can be readily implemented despite objections from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and blocked the state from using the execution method. The same 3-judge panel affirmed the decision on Wednesday when the AG’s Office appealed.

The Attorney General’s Office then appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. State attorneys argued that courts in previous executions upheld nitrogen gas executions; questioned testimony from a defense expert who said a firing squad execution would be less painful, and argued that the state could not create a facility for firing squad executions or train a firing squad in a reasonable amount of time.

“If that ruling stands, it would be unprecedented in American history,” the appeal said. “Not only does it portend the 1st-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method, but it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment. While a risk of emotional distress might be relevant, the notion that a generally physically painless method nonetheless involves a level of ‘severe pain’ akin to barbaric torture is outlandish.”

Lee’s attorneys said the state did not challenge its experts during the trial phase and witness testimony on prior nitrogen gas executions. They argued shooting Lee in the heart would lead to death within 3 to 5 seconds, and also cited testimony from former Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, who said the state could implement firing squad executions if so directed.

“Alabama has modified its execution statute and trained personnel to accommodate new methods before,” the brief said. “It can do so again. That it may take time and resources to implement such a protocol does not make (a) firing squad infeasible either.”