US Supreme Court Blocks Alabama's Nitrogen Gas Execution

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Washington: The U.S. Supreme Court denied Alabama's request to execute death row convict Jeffrey Lee using nitrogen gas, upholding lower court decisions that said the procedure probably violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling prevented the eighth nitrogen hypoxia execution in the country.

In a brief ruling, the court rejected Alabama's urgent appeal. Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas all said they would have approved of the execution. There was no formal dissent.

The verdict came after a number of lower court decisions finding that Alabama's nitrogen gas policy poses a significant danger of severe suffering. A federal judge permanently barred the use of the method against Lee after a federal appeals court found that it might subject prisoners to an awful time of conscious suffocation before to death.

For the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a heist at a pawn store, Lee got the death sentence. A judge later overruled the jury's decision for a life sentence and imposed the capital penalty, which Alabama outlawed in 2017.

State officials are likely to appeal the decisions, but Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has vowed to keep seeking Lee's execution. Alabama may still attempt to execute the sentence by other legal means, such as the electric chair or lethal injection.