US judge halts Alabama nitrogen gas execution

A federal judge on Tuesday barred the US state of Alabama from carrying out an execution using nitrogen gas, ruling that the method violates the constitutional prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments.”

The decision was issued by US District Judge Emily C. Marks one day after a federal appeals court overturned her earlier finding that the execution method was constitutional, according to ABC News.

Marks' order prevents the state from using nitrogen gas to execute inmate Jeffery Lee, whose execution had been scheduled for Thursday at an Alabama prison.

A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state plans to appeal the ruling. The dispute is expected to reach the US Supreme Court, which has previously allowed executions by nitrogen gas to move forward.

Representatives for Lee's legal team said they had no immediate response to the decision.

In her 26-page opinion, Marks noted that legal challenges are a recurring feature of death penalty cases.

“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 mentioned 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.”