Toronto Star
· collected 2026-09-17 · by Kim Chandler The Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday night via lethal injection, three months after a judge’s ruling blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.
asserted
ruling → set → gas
Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to receive an injection beginning at 6 p.m. at south Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility for killing two people during a 1998 pawn shop robbery in rural Dallas County.
asserted
Lee → schedule → County
The state initially sought to execute Lee on June 11 using gas.
asserted
state → seek → gas
But after a judge stopped that plan, the Alabama attorney general’s office immediately filed paperwork seeking the new execution date for Lee, this time by the chemical injection method.
asserted
office → stop → method
Lee and his supporters have made a final bid to spare him, noting the jury in his case had made a recommendation of life imprisonment, which the judge overrode.
asserted
judge → make → which
His attorneys also argued in court that the state should not be legally allowed to switch execution methods.
asserted
state → argue → methods
Twenty-six inmates have been executed around the U.S. to date this year, including a Texas man given a lethal injection for his conviction in a triple murder at his neighbor’s home.
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inmates → execute → home
Elsewhere, a judge blocked plans Wednesday by the state of Georgia to execute a man who killed two real estate agents.
asserted
who → block → agents
Two killed in 1998 pawn shop robbery
The double murder occurred on Dec. 12, 1998, at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville, a small town west of Selma.
asserted
murder → kill → Selma
Jimmy Ellis, the store’s owner, and Elaine Thompson, a store employee, were shot and killed.
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Ellis → shoot → ?
Another employee survived by playing dead.
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employee → survive → ?
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.
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Lee → return → Ellis
The surviving witness fell to the floor, pretending to be dead, and called 911 once Lee left the store.
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Lee → survive → store
Ellis, a singer whose voice resembled Elvis Presley’s, had gained a national following for a time as an Elvis impersonator.
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voice → resemble → impersonator
He performed as the masked singer “Orion” and was the subject of a 2015 documentary.
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He → perform → documentary
Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder.
asserted
Lee → convict → murder
Jury voted 7-5 for life in prison
Lee is one of about two dozen people on Alabama’s death row who were sentenced to death despite jury recommendations they receive life sentences.
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they → vote → sentences
The jury that convicted Lee of capital murder voted 7-5 to recommend a sentence of life without parole, but the trial judge overrode them and sentenced him to death.
asserted
judge → convict → death
In 2017, Alabama abolished judicial override and stopped allowing judges to change juries’ sentencing decision in capital cases.
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judges → abolish → cases
But the law was not retroactive, leaving Lee and others on death row.
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law → leave → row
Supporters of Lee’s clemency bid held a rally Tuesday outside the Alabama Capitol under the banner, “HONOR THE JURY.”
asserted
Supporters → hold → JURY
Lee’s lawyers contest switch in execution method
Lee’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution to consider if the state may switch to lethal injection.
Lee filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol.
uncertain
Lee → contest → 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.”
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defendants → agree → hypoxia
Lee’s lawyers argued the state is bound by the terms of that agreement to not use lethal injection.
asserted
state → argue → injection
They said the state could revise its nitrogen protocol to make it constitutional or use a firing squad.
uncertain
it → say → squad
“The petition asks this Court to determine whether the State may execute Mr. Lee by lethal injection notwithstanding its prior representation that it would execute him by nitrogen hypoxia,” his attorney wrote in a filing with the high court.
uncertain
attorney → ask → court
The state attorney general’s office asked the high court to let the execution proceed, arguing that nothing precludes the switch to lethal injection.
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nothing → ask → injection
lawyers with the attorney general’s office wrote.
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lawyers → write → office
For decades, lethal injection was the generally preferred U.S. execution method until problems procuring and administering the drugs led states including Alabama to consider alternatives.
asserted
problems → prefer → alternatives
Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method.
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injection → remain → ?
But in 2024, the state began carrying out some executions using nitrogen gas, which involves replacing breathable air with gas through a respirator mask, causing death from lack of oxygen.
asserted
which → begin → oxygen
Nitrogen has now been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana.
asserted
Nitrogen → use → Louisiana
The Aporia
