From CBS News · · 1m 50s
Alabama executes man after nitrogen gas blocked
A judge ruled the state's nitrogen execution method unconstitutional, forcing Alabama to switch to lethal injection for a man convicted of killing an Elvis impersonator.
In brief
A judge ruled the state's nitrogen execution method unconstitutional, forcing Alabama to switch to lethal injection for a man convicted of killing an Elvis impersonator. When courts block new execution methods, states can switch to older ones, leaving inmates with limited legal recourse even when they've agreed to a…
Nitrogen execution blocked
A judge ruled Alabama's nitrogen gas execution method unconstitutionally cruel, blocking its use on Jeffery Lee three months before his scheduled execution.
State switches to lethal injection
Alabama quickly filed paperwork to execute Lee by lethal injection instead, which the state's attorney general argued was legally permissible.
Lee killed Elvis impersonator
Lee was convicted in 2000 of shooting and killing Jimmy Ellis, a store owner and nationally known Elvis impersonator, and employee Elaine Thompson in December 1998.
Jury voted for life sentence
The jury voted 7-5 to recommend life without parole, but the trial judge overrode them and imposed death. Alabama abolished judicial override in 2017, but the law wasn't retroactive.
Lee agreed to nitrogen method
In 2018, Lee dismissed his lethal injection lawsuit after the state agreed to execute him by nitrogen hypoxia if execution occurred. His lawyers argued the state is bound by that agreement.
“if he is to be executed, defendants will carry out that execution by nitrogen hypoxia”
Supreme Court petition denied
Lee's attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution and consider whether the state could legally switch methods, but the court allowed it to proceed.
Execution carried out by injection
Jeffery Lee, 49, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday at six twenty-two p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
“All is well. I just want to say to my family, I love them.”
Nitrogen executions continue elsewhere
Nitrogen gas has been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana since 2024, despite ongoing scrutiny about whether the method causes unnecessary suffering.
The bottom line
When courts block new execution methods, states can switch to older ones, leaving inmates with limited legal recourse even when they've agreed to a specific method.
