US judge permanently blocks Alabama nitrogen-gas execution

A federal judge has permanently blocked Alabama from carrying out the execution of inmate Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas. The ruling was issued on Tuesday by US District Judge Emily C. Marks and came just days before Lee had been scheduled to die at an Alabama prison on Thursday.

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It marks a significant setback for the state's use of nitrogen gas as an execution method. In her 26-page decision, Marks said the method violates the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment. The judge had previously allowed the execution to proceed, saying no execution is entirely free of pain, but an appeals court reversed that position a day before the latest ruling.

Alabama is now reviewing its next steps, including a possible appeal, according to a spokesman for Attorney General Steve Marshall. The ruling does not prevent Alabama from seeking to execute Lee by other authorised methods. Marks said the state could use lethal injection or the electric chair, and also ruled that Lee could be executed by firing squad if the state chose that option.

She wrote that inmates challenging execution methods must propose an alternative, and said the state could obtain the equipment and adapt space at Holman prison for a firing squad execution. The case is the latest challenge to how states carry out capital punishment in the United States. It also highlights the continuing legal uncertainty around nitrogen gas executions, a method that the US Supreme Court has previously allowed to proceed.

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The judge said death penalty litigation is constant and suggested that any execution method could face constitutional challenge. The decision matters because it could affect not only Lee's case but also broader state efforts to use nitrogen gas in executions. Alabama has been among the states exploring or using alternative execution methods as legal challenges have complicated lethal injection protocols.

The ruling also raises the likelihood of further appeals and a possible review by the US Supreme Court. What happens next will depend on whether Alabama appeals and whether higher courts intervene before any new execution date is set. It is also unclear which method, if any, the state would choose if it continues to seek Lee's execution.

For now, the permanent injunction leaves the case unresolved and keeps the legal fight over execution methods active.

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