On Friday, Alabama moved forward with plans to execute Jeffery Lee using a lethal injection. This came shortly after legal obstacles halted his execution by nitrogen hypoxia. The Alabama Attorney General’s office requested the state Supreme Court to issue a death warrant for Lee, specifying the use of lethal injection.
In sum, ADOC has not been barred from executing Lee, only from executing him by nitrogen hypoxia,
stated the lawyers from the Attorney General’s office.
According to a photograph provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections on June 11, 2026, Lee was sentenced to death for a double homicide during a 1998 pawn shop robbery. The Attorney General, Steve Marshall, had vowed to pursue Lee’s execution. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction that blocked the nitrogen hypoxia execution, citing constitutional concerns over cruel and unusual punishment. The injunction did not prevent the state from employing other methods such as lethal injection or the electric chair.
Lee, aged 49, was scheduled to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia by 6 p.m. CT on Thursday. He has been on death row since his 1998 murder conviction. Initially, the jury favored a life sentence over the death penalty by a 7-2 vote. However, the judge exercised a practice known as judicial override, which has since been banned, to impose the death penalty. Before 2017, this practice led to many inmates in Alabama receiving death sentences.
Alabama defends its nitrogen gas protocol as a humane option compared to lethal injection, which has been criticized due to failed execution attempts. Legal challenges to this method will be heard in 2027.