The Supreme Court denied Alabama’s emergency request to execute Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas after lower courts found the method likely unconstitutional. Lee remains on death row, and state officials said they will continue seeking his execution.
Posts tagged as “nitrogen hypoxia”
The Alabama Supreme Court is considering a request from the state attorney general to set an execution date for Kenneth Eugene Smith using a proposed new execution method of nitrogen hypoxia. Smith's lawyers have argued that this method is "experimental" and that the state has disclosed little information about how it would work, while the state has argued that it is a humane and painless way to carry out executions. If the court approves the request, Smith would become the first person in Alabama to be executed using the nitrogen hypoxia method, otherwise the state will have to find another way to carry out Smith's death sentence.
The Supreme Court has rejected Alabama's bid to execute death row inmate Kenneth Smith by lethal injection, leaving in place a lower court ruling that his preference for lethal gas is a viable alternative method. This marks the first time an inmate has been allowed to choose an execution method other than lethal injection, as the state has authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Smith in November, allowing him to choose nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative to lethal injection.