The United States Supreme Court has rejected Alabama’s request to execute death row prisoner Jeffrey Lee using nitrogen gas, intensifying a legal battle over whether the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The decision, handed down late Thursday, upholds lower court rulings that deemed the state’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol unconstitutional.
Lee, 49, was convicted of two murders during a 1998 robbery and sentenced to death after a judge overrode a jury’s vote for life without parole. His legal team welcomed the ruling, stating: “His jury voted for life. Two courts ruled the method unconstitutional. Today, the constitution prevailed.” Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall condemned the decision as a “miscarriage of justice”.
Nitrogen gas executions involve strapping a respirator to the inmate’s face to breathe pure nitrogen until death from oxygen deprivation. Critics argue the method is brutal, citing previous executions where prisoners thrashed, writhed, and gasped for over 30 minutes. The Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed two such executions, said the court’s ruling “vindicates” reports of torturous deaths.
The legal showdown could ultimately determine the legality of nitrogen executions across the US, with five states having authorised the method. Alabama carried out the world’s first nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2022, and eight have been performed since. The practice emerged as an alternative to lethal injection, which has faced its own controversies over botched procedures.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 vote did not include an explanation, but three conservative justices indicated they would have allowed the execution to proceed. While the immediate impact is limited to Alabama, a future Supreme Court ruling could set a nationwide precedent on the use of nitrogen gas in executions.
