Alabama cannot carry out an execution next week by nitrogen hypoxia, the state prison commissioner disclosed Thursday in response to a federal judge's directive to clarify the status of the untested execution method.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said in an brief affidavit that the state “cannot carry out an execution by nitrogen hypoxia on September 22.” He did not elaborate on where the state stood in developing the new execution method. Hamm said the state is ready to use lethal injection to put an inmate to death next week.
