Alabama seeks to execute man by lethal injection after court ruled against nitrogen method

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama on Friday asked permission to execute a man with lethal injection after court rulings blocked the use of nitrogen gas following court rulings that cast doubt on the future of the state’s gas method.

The Alabama Attorney General’s office filed a motion asking the Alabama Supreme Court to authorize a death warrant for Jeffery Lee, this time using lethal injection. The request came less than 24 hours after the state was thwarted in plans to execute him by nitrogen. Lee was convicted of killing two people during a 1998 robbery.

“In sum, ADOC has not been barred from executing Lee, only from executing him by nitrogen hypoxia,” state lawyers wrote.

A spokesperson for Lee’s legal team said they did not have an immediate comment on the action. The next step is for his attorneys to respond to the request at the Alabama Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night refused to lift an injunction blocking the state from executing Lee with nitrogen gas. A district judge issued the injunction after finding the state’s nitrogen protocol violated the ban on cruel and unusual punishments established in the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment. The injunction, however, did not block the state from using one of its other...