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

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama on Friday moved to execute a man with lethal injection hours after his nitrogen execution was prevented from going forward.

The Alabama Attorney General’s office asked the Alabama Supreme Court to authorize a death warrant for Jeffery Lee, this time using lethal injection.

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

A spokesman 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 filing came hours after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall promised to continue fighting to carry out Lee’s death sentence.

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 constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The injunction, however, did not block the state from using one of its other authorized methods, lethal injection or the electric chair, to put Lee to death.