Overview
- The Supreme Court on Thursday refused Alabama’s emergency request to lift a federal injunction, keeping in place orders that prevented the state from executing Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas.
- U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled on June 9 that Lee proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Alabama’s nitrogen protocol violates the Eighth Amendment after the 11th Circuit had earlier found the method presents a substantial risk of serious harm.
- Nitrogen hypoxia requires a mask that supplies pure nitrogen so the prisoner breathes out oxygen and suffocates, and media and medical briefs from past executions describe victims gasping, thrashing and sometimes taking many minutes to die.
- The court rulings address only Alabama’s nitrogen protocol and do not overturn Lee’s death sentence; the state retains other authorized methods on paper but switching to alternatives such as a firing squad would face legal and logistical hurdles.
- The case could shape national practice because several states and federal proposals authorize nitrogen hypoxia, and the litigation highlights medical, legal and human-rights objections that may drive future legal challenges and policy decisions.