Alabama nitrogen gas executions are cruel and unusual punishment, judge says

U.S. Alabama's nitrogen gas executions constitute cruel and unusual punishment, judge rules By Emily Mae Czachor Emily Mae Czachor News Editor Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek. Read Full Bio Emily Mae Czachor June 10, 2026 / 9:41 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google A federal judge has banned Alabama from executing a death row inmate by nitrogen hypoxia, reversing a previous opinion that concluded the controversial and relatively new execution method is unconstitutionally cruel. The ruling, issued Tuesday, permanently prevents the state from putting Jeffrey Lee, 49, to death using nitrogen gas.Lee was scheduled to die by nitrogen hypoxia — where a condemned inmate is forced to breathe pure nitrogen through a gas mask until they suffocate from the lack of oxygen — on Thursday. He has been incarcerated on Alabama's death row for more than two decades, after being convicted of a 1998 double murder. Prosecutors said he shot and killed Jimmy Ellis, a store owner, and Elaine Thompson, an employee, while attempting to rob the establishment, court filings show. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Emily Marks said Alabama's nitrogen gas protocol violates inmates' rights under the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. It followed an appeals court ruling Monday that reversed an earlier decision from Marks, in which she found the method was constitutional. "Lee has shown by a preponderance of evidence that the Protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment," Marks wrote Tuesday, referencing the appeals court's Monday opinion.After hearing testimony from experts and lay witnesses during an April bench trial that was the first to weigh the constitutionality of Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia protocol, the court found inmates executed...