Alabama Set to Execute Man Via Lethal Injection After Nitrogen Gas Plan Blocked
Jeffery Lee is scheduled for execution Thursday night for a 1998 double murder, three months after a judge halted his planned death by nitrogen gas.
Alabama is scheduled to execute Jeffery Lee by lethal injection on Thursday evening for his role in a 1998 pawn shop robbery that resulted in two deaths. The execution is set to take place at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility.
This marks a shift in execution methods for Lee, 49, as the state had initially planned to carry out his execution using nitrogen gas on June 11. However, a judge's ruling blocked that method, prompting the Alabama attorney general's office to seek a new execution date using chemical injection.
Lee's legal team and supporters have made a final effort to prevent his execution, highlighting that the jury in his case recommended a life sentence, a decision the judge ultimately overrode. His attorneys also argued that the state should not be permitted to switch execution methods.
The 1998 Killings
The double murder occurred on December 12, 1998, at Jimmy's Pawn Shop in Orrville, Alabama. The victims were the store's owner, Jimmy Ellis, and an employee, Elaine Thompson. A third employee survived by feigning death. The surviving witness testified that Lee attempted to rob the store, returning with a shotgun after initially leaving to get money. Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder.
Ellis, a musician known for his Elvis Presley impersonations under the stage name "Orion," had gained some national recognition.
Legal Challenges and Execution Methods
Lee is among approximately two dozen individuals on Alabama's death row who received death sentences despite jury recommendations for life imprisonment. In Lee's case, the jury voted 7-5 for life without parole, but the trial judge imposed the death penalty.
Alabama abolished judicial override of jury sentencing in capital cases in 2017, but this change was not retroactive. Lee's attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution to review whether the state can switch from the previously agreed-upon nitrogen hypoxia method to lethal injection.
In 2016, Lee filed a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection protocol. After Alabama authorized nitrogen as an execution method, Lee chose it as his preferred means of execution. He dismissed his lethal injection lawsuit in 2018 based on the state's agreement to carry out his execution by nitrogen hypoxia if one were to occur. His lawyers contend the state is bound by this agreement and should not use lethal injection, suggesting alternatives like a firing squad or a revised, constitutional nitrogen protocol.
The state attorney general's office, however, argues that nothing prevents the switch to lethal injection and that delaying the execution imposes an ongoing harm.
Execution Methods in the U.S.
Lethal injection has historically been the primary execution method in the United States. However, difficulties in obtaining execution drugs have led several states, including Alabama, to explore alternative methods. Alabama began using nitrogen gas in 2024, a method that causes death by asphyxiation through a respirator mask. This method has been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Nationally, 26 inmates have been executed via lethal injection this year as of the reporting period. In a separate case, a judge in Georgia blocked plans to execute a man for the murder of two real estate agents.