Alabama schedules lethal injection for Jeffery Lee after nitrogen execution blocked

Jeffery Lee, 49, will be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility, after a judge barred a previously scheduled nitrogen gas execution. The state promptly submitted new documents to set the lethal-injection date, citing the method as its primary means of execution. Lee was found guilty of capital murder and attempted murder for a 1998 robbery at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville, where two employees were shot dead and a third survived by playing dead.

Although the jury voted 7-5 for life without parole, the trial judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death, a decision that remains enforceable because the 2017 law change was not retroactive. Lee’s counsel has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the state is bound by its earlier agreement to use nitrogen hypoxia and should not switch methods. The attorney general’s office argues the law does not prevent a change and stresses the need to carry out the sentence.