Alabama sets an execution by nitrogen gas for man convicted of killing two people during robbery

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has set a June execution by nitrogen gas for a man convicted of killing two people during a 1998 robbery of a pawn shop.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday set a June 11 execution date for Jeffery James Lee, 49. Lee was convicted of killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawn shop that belonged to Ellis.

The execution date was set as Lee has an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the humaneness of the nitrogen execution method. A federal judge has scheduled an April 27 bench trial in his lawsuit arguing the method violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. His lawyers had urged the Alabama Supreme Court to hold off on authorizing an execution date until after the challenge to the nitrogen method is decided.

Alabama began using nitrogen gas in 2024 to carry out some executions. The method uses a gas mask strapped over the person's face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing the person to die from lack of oxygen. Nationally, the method has now been used in eight executions: seven times in Alabama and once in Louisiana.

Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Ellis and Thompson on Dec. 12, 1998 near Orrville, Alabama. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury's sentencing decision in death penalty cases.