US Supreme Court Halts Planned Nitrogen Execution in Alabama at the Last Minute

Background of the Case

Jeffery Lee had been sentenced to death for the murder of two people during a robbery in 1998. Some sources also cite the year of the verdict as 2000. His execution had been scheduled for Thursday. The 49-year-old man, who was to be executed on Thursday, was to be strapped to a gurney and forced to inhale nitrogen through a mask.

In nitrogen hypoxia, death occurs through lack of oxygen. UN experts have previously criticized execution by nitrogen inhalation as a form of "torture." Human rights organizations have also described the method as extraordinarily cruel.

Criticism of the Execution Method

Alabama's attorney general had argued, by contrast, that shortness of breath and respiratory distress during the execution were not painful enough to fall under the relevant constitutional prohibition. The legal news service "scotusblog.com" had previously reported that the nitrogen method could cause severe pain. Lower courts had ruled that nitrogen execution was likely unconstitutional.

Nitrogen has only been used as an execution method in the United States for a short time. According to the US Death Penalty Information Center, nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States since 2024. Seven of these took place in Alabama, and one in Louisiana. Three other US states have a moratorium on the death penalty.

Death Penalty Statistics in the US

Last year, a total of 47 people were executed — the highest number since 2009. This year, 15 death sentences have been carried out in the United States so far, including eight in Florida, four in Texas, two in Oklahoma, and one in Arizona. The majority of executions in the US are carried out by lethal injection.

In addition to lethal injection, the electric chair and firing squad are also permitted execution methods in the United States. Firing squads, among others, are to be used as new methods of execution. US President Donald Trump is a supporter of the death penalty.

Political Context

The Department of Justice declared in April that it intended to expand the death penalty for serious offenders at the federal level. At the same time, the death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. The differing developments between states such as Alabama, which continue to carry out executions, and those with a moratorium or abolition shape the current debate on the death penalty in the United States.

With Thursday's decision, it remains open whether and when the Supreme Court will rule fundamentally on the constitutionality of nitrogen hypoxia. Until then, the issue is likely to remain at the center of the legal and political debate over the death penalty in the coming months.