US Supreme Court denies Alabama's request to carry out nitrogen gas execution

Jeffery Lee, 49, was scheduled to be executed on Thursday. The state can still seek to have him put to death using another method. US Supreme Court denies Alabama's request to carry out nitrogen gas execution Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. An exterior view of the US Supreme Court building's columned entrance in Washington DC with sunlight shining on it. The US Supreme Court has denied an appeal by the state of Alabama to execute death row prisoner Jeffery Lee using nitrogen gas. Two lower courts had earlier blocked the use of nitrogen gas in executions, finding the method likely violates the US Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Alabama then appealed that ruling. The brief, unsigned order on the Supreme Court's emergency docket did not provide an explanation, but Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented, indicating that they would have granted the state's request. Alabama's top prosecutor said the halted execution is "a miscarriage of justice" for the state and the families of the victims. Alabama has executed seven people using nitrogen gas since introducing the method in January 2024, one of the few states to do so. has executed seven people using nitrogen gas since Death by nitrogen hypoxia - when a death penalty inmate is forced to breathe pure nitrogen through a gas mask until they suffocate - was permanently banned by a federal judge this week after experts and witnesses provided testimony during an April bench trial. The lower court, which reversed a previous decision by an appeals court, found inmates executed by the relatively new form of capital punishment likely experience "severe air hunger and corresponding emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort" before asphyxiation occurs, according to the BBC's US media partner, CBS News. Alabama filed an emergency order on Thursday, just hours before the scheduled execution Lee, 49, who was to be put to death at 18:00 local time. Lee was convicted of murdering two people in a 1998 pawnshop robbery and has been on Alabama's death row for more than two decades. A jury recommended that he be sentenced to life in prison, but a judge overturned the jury's decision and sentenced him to death under a since-abolished judicial override procedure. The state can still seek to put Lee to death using another execution method. Alabama Attorney Genera Steve Marshall said in a statement that the halted execution is unfair to the families of Lee's victims, who "were prepared to witness the final act of justice be served". He added: "The State is prepared to do whatever is necessary to see Mr Lee's lawful sentence carried out." Why has Alabama executed a man using nitrogen gas? There are 11 known victims, local officials said, and the gunman is deceased. The proposed "anti-weaponisation" fund was announced to settle a lawsuit by Trump against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Severe weather has torn through the midwest, destroying homes, disrupting flights, and knocking out power for thousands across the region. In ceremonies across the nation, the Americans who died while serving in the US military are remembered. Tony Carruthers was granted a one-year reprieve from death after his executioners failed to find a vein for lethal injection. Abortion pills are the most common method of terminating pregnancies in the US. Organisations warn many more people could be executed in the wake of the anti-government protests which swept Iran earlier this year. The stories of Blackbeard and a man who was mauled to death by a lion are told in the new podcast.