Judge blocks Alabama's nitrogen gas execution method, rules it is unconstitutionally cruel
A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama executing death row inmate Jeffrey Lee with nitrogen gas after finding that it violates the U.S.Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.U.S.
District Judge Emily C.Marks handed down the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the controversial execution method was constitutional.
She permanently barred the state from using nitrogen gas to execute Jeffrey Lee, 49, who was scheduled to be put to death on Thursday.The judge wrote that the appeals court found the method carried "a substantial risk of serious harm." A three-judge panel from the 11th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said the three minutes that it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an "intolerable" time frame, "given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol."Marks also ruled that the state could change the form of execution to Lee’s preferred method, which is a firing squad.
Inmates challenging execution methods must suggest an alternative method.ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE INSISTS INNOCENCE, URGES GOVERNOR TO MEET HIM BEFORE NITROGEN-GAS EXECUTIONProtesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, on Monday, to oppose an upcoming execution in the state.(AP Photo/Kim Chandler)"Therefore, Lee has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment," Marks wrote.Marks' order blocks only the state from executing Lee by nitrogen gas.
The state has two other authorized execution methods: lethal injection and the electric chair.She said Lee is "not entitled to an injunction barring the state from executing him using one of those methods."Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's office is appealing the decision, according to a new court filing.
Alabama officials have maintained that the method is constitutional.The issue appears likely bound for the U.S.Supr...