Alabama executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday for a 1998 double murder, three months after a judge’s ruling blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.
asserted
ruling → execute → gas
Jeffery Lee, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, authorities said.
asserted
authorities → pronounce → Atmore
Twenty-seven people have been executed around the US this year.
asserted
people → execute → US
Jimmy Ellis, the store’s owner, and Elaine Thompson, a store employee, were shot and killed.
asserted
Ellis → shoot → ?
Another employee survived by playing dead.
asserted
employee → survive → ?
Lee’s supporters and attorneys made an unsuccessful bid for clemency, noting that the jury that convicted him wanted him to receive a life sentence and filing a legal challenge to the change in execution methods.
asserted
him → make → methods
The execution got underway just after 6 p.m.
“All is well.
asserted
All → get → p.m.
I just want to say to my family, I love them.
asserted
I → want → them
To my brothers on life row, I love them,” Lee said in his final words.
asserted
Lee → love → words
As the injection began, Lee clenched his fists on the prison gurney.
asserted
Lee → begin → gurney
His spiritual adviser held Lee’s feet and appeared to pray.
asserted
adviser → hold → feet
Lee closed his eyes and did not appear to open them again.
asserted
Lee → close → them
Ruling blocked Alabama from using nitrogen gas method
The execution was carried out 98 days after Lee won a last-minute reprieve when a judge ruled the state’s nitrogen gas method violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Lee had been scheduled to be executed on June 11 by nitrogen gas, but the execution was called off that night when the US Supreme Court declined to lift the judge’s ruling.
asserted
Court → block → ruling
The decision was a loss for the state, which began using the gas method in 2024.
asserted
which → begin → 2024
The Alabama attorney general’s office on June 12 filed paperwork to set a new execution date for Lee, this time using lethal injection.
asserted
office → file → injection
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday evening that “justice was finally served.”
asserted
justice → say → ?
“In June, after Mr. Lee attempted to avoid his deserved death sentence, I reaffirmed my commitment that justice would ultimately be served,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also said in a statement.
asserted
Ivey → attempt → statement
“Tonight, that promise was fulfilled for his victims, Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson, as well as for their loved ones who have long-awaited his sentence to be carried out.”
asserted
sentence → fulfil → ones
Lee’s attorneys and supporters made an unsuccessful bid for clemency, noting the jury in his case had made a recommendation of life imprisonment, which the judge overrode.
A jury voted 7-5 to give Lee a sentence of life imprisonment.
asserted
jury → make → imprisonment
However, a judge overrode that and sentenced him to death.
asserted
judge → override → death
In 2017, Alabama abolished judicial override and stopped allowing judges to change juries’ sentencing decision in capital cases.
asserted
judges → abolish → cases
Supporters of Lee’s clemency bid held a rally Tuesday outside the Alabama Capitol under the banner, “HONOR THE JURY.”
asserted
Supporters → hold → JURY
They gathered in a vigil Thursday night outside the Alabama Governor’s Mansion.
asserted
They → gather → Mansion
“His death sentence rested solely on judicial override — an old law that Alabama has repealed,” Lee’s attorneys said in a statement after the execution.
asserted
attorneys → rest → execution
“The State itself concluded this practice was wrong enough to abandon yet still put a man to death under it.
asserted
practice → conclude → it
Ivey, who declined to intervene, said in her statement that the case “underscores exactly why” the law passed in 2017 did not apply to existing death sentences.
asserted
law → decline → sentences
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asserted
Report → start → news
Two killed in 1998 pawnshop robbery
asserted
Two → kill → robbery
The surviving witness testified that Lee entered the store, asked to see wedding rings and said he would be back after getting money from his grandmother.
asserted
he → survive → grandmother
Lee returned a short time later with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, Thompson and the other employee.
asserted
Lee → return → Ellis
The surviving witness fell to the floor, pretending to be dead, and called 911 once Lee left the store.
asserted
Lee → survive → store
Ellis, a singer whose voice resembled Elvis Presley’s, had gained a national following for a time as an Elvis impersonator.
asserted
voice → resemble → impersonator
He performed as the masked singer “Orion” and was the subject of a 2015 documentary.
asserted
He → perform → documentary
Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder.
asserted
Lee → convict → murder
Supreme Court turns back stay request
The US Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon denied Lee’s request to stay the execution to consider if the state was allowed to make the switch to lethal injection.
asserted
state → turn → injection
Justices turned back the request without comment.
asserted
Justices → turn → comment
Lee filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol.
asserted
Lee → file → protocol
After Alabama authorized nitrogen as an execution method, Lee selected it as his preferred method.
asserted
Lee → authorize → method
He agreed to dismiss the lethal injection lawsuit in 2018 because the state agreed that “if he is to be executed, defendants will carry out that execution by nitrogen hypoxia.”
asserted
defendants → agree → hypoxia
Lee’s lawyers argued the state was bound by the terms of that agreement to not use lethal injection.
asserted
state → argue → injection
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
