Jeffery Lee, a death row inmate convicted of murdering two people during a 1998 pawn shop robbery, faced a scheduled execution Thursday when a federal appeals court panel raised significant constitutional concerns about Alabama's method of capital punishment using nitrogen gas.
Background
Alabama first implemented nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method in 2024, becoming one of the few states to adopt the controversial technique. The process involves strapping a respirator mask to the condemned person's face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death through oxygen deprivation. Lee was sentenced to death for the killings of Jimmy Ellis, the owner of Jimmy's Pawnshop, and Elaine Thompson, an employee at the store, during a robbery on Dec. 12, 1998. A jury voted 7-5 to recommend life imprisonment, but a judge overrode that recommendation and imposed the death sentence—a practice Alabama ended in 2017.
The Investigation
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its ruling late Monday night, reversing a May decision by a federal district judge who had found the nitrogen method does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The appeals court remanded the case back to the lower court for additional consideration. In its opinion, the panel expressed concern about how long it takes a subject to lose consciousness under the protocol—estimated at one to three minutes—and whether that timeframe constitutes intolerable suffering. "Counting to 60 or 180 seconds is not a quick exercise, and constitutionally speaking, that timeframe is intolerable given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia protocol," the panel wrote. The court found Lee met the first prong of the Supreme Court's two-prong test for challenging execution methods—showing substantial risk of superadded pain—but sent the case back to determine whether a feasible alternative method exists, asking the trial judge to consider whether a firing squad could serve as a viable option.
Key Takeaways
- Jeffery Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery in 1998
- A jury recommended life imprisonment by a 7-5 vote, but a judge overrode that recommendation to impose the death sentence
- The appeals court found the nitrogen hypoxia protocol presents "a substantial risk of serious harm over and above death itself"
- Alabama has used nitrogen gas in seven executions, with Louisiana conducting one; Lee's scheduled execution would be the eighth nationally
- The state has maintained the method is constitutional and the Alabama Attorney General's Office opposes clemency
What's Next
The case returns to the federal district court for additional review on whether a feasible alternative execution method exists. While the appeals court did not issue an outright stay of Lee's scheduled execution Thursday, the ruling could complicate Alabama's plans to proceed with the nitrogen protocol at a south Alabama prison. The Alabama Attorney General's Office had not issued a formal response to the decision as of early Tuesday morning.
The ruling drew criticism from opponents of capital punishment and those who witnessed previous nitrogen executions. "For the first time a court has acknowledged what I and so many others have seen with our own eyes. Nitrogen executions are a unique form of horror," said Rev. Jeff Hood, who served as spiritual adviser at two prior nitrogen executions in Alabama.