Judge permanently blocks Alabama from executing inmate with nitrogen gas

A federal judge blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas, ruling that the method violates the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama Emily Marks ordered that the state’s Department of Corrections is permanently enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia execution. The order came as part of the plaintiff Jeffery Lee’s plea for a firing squad method of execution instead of nitrogen hypoxia after he was convicted on two counts of murder, which he committed while robbing a store.