A federal judge has permanently barred Alabama from using nitrogen gas for executions, ruling the method violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks issued her decision on Tuesday, just a day after an appeals court overturned her earlier ruling deeming the method constitutional.
The injunction specifically prevents the state from executing inmate Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas; Lee had been scheduled for execution this Thursday at an Alabama prison.
A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall confirmed the state plans to appeal the decision. The case is widely expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has previously allowed nitrogen executions to proceed.
In her 26-page ruling, Judge Marks acknowledged the persistent legal challenges surrounding capital punishment.
She wrote: "Were Alabama to adopt firing squad as a method of execution, that method would likely be challenged as well. Indeed, there is likely no method — no matter how humane — that would be immune to constitutional challenge. But the Constitution does not guarantee a painless death, and human life cannot be purposefully extinguished without some risk of pain. The Court, the condemned, and the State must all confront that sobering reality."
“Were Alabama to adopt firing squad as a method of execution, that method would likely be challenged as well. Indeed, there is likely no method — no matter how humane — that would be immune to constitutional challenge. But the Constitution does not guarantee a painless death, and human life cannot be purposefully extinguished without some risk of pain. The Court, the condemned, and the State must all confront that sobering reality,” Marks wrote.
Marks noted that the state has two other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. She said Lee is “not entitled to an injunction barring the State from executing him using one of those methods.”
