{"id":14107,"date":"2026-06-11T15:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14107"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:02:21","slug":"alabama-asks-appeals-court-to-let-it-continue-nitrogen-gas-executions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14107","title":{"rendered":"Alabama asks appeals court to let it continue nitrogen gas executions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KIM CHANDLER<\/strong><\/p>\n

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) \u2014 Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside a judge\u2019s findings that the method violates the Constitution\u2019s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>

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A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Alabama\u2019s nitrogen protocol is unconstitutional and blocked the state from using it to execute Jeffery Lee, 49. The Alabama attorney general\u2019s office is appealing the decision.<\/p>\n

The outcome of the eleventh-hour legal battle will determine if Lee\u2019s execution goes forward Thursday night with nitrogen gas. It could also help determine the future of the controversial execution method Alabama began using in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Alabama continues to defend its execution protocol in the courts, the governor remains prepared to move forward with the planned execution,\u201d Mike Lewis, a spokesman for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

The execution method involves strapping a respirator to the person\u2019s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from a lack of oxygen. Nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States \u2014 seven times in Alabama and once in Louisiana. Lee was scheduled to be the ninth person put the death by nitrogen.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled Tuesday, after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional, that Lee had shown by a \u201cpreponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.\u201d The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision Wednesday night, rejected Alabama\u2019s request to stay the ruling. The court earlier said the three minutes that it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an \u201cintolerable\u201d time frame, \u201cgiven the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama\u2019s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n