A federal Alabama judge has prohibited the state from executing an inmate this week using the controversial new method of nitrogen gas, ruling that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling on Tuesday, June 9, that could stop the execution of Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee. Lee is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, June 11, for a double murder during a pawn shop robbery in 1998.

The ruling also stops the state of Alabama from executing other inmates with the method, though no others are scheduled this year, and the state is expected to appeal the ruling, which could put the matter in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The office of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

Marks’ ruling stems from a hearing about how much pain inmates experience during a nitrogen gas execution. She concluded that they experience up to three minutes of “severe air hunger” resulting in emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort.

The U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a death row inmate a pain-free death but does require executions to be free of cruel and unusual punishment.

Defense attorneys, death penalty opponents and some witnesses to nitrogen gas executions argue it amounts to torture and so is a clear constitutional violation.

Alabama was the first state in the nation to carry out a nitrogen gas execution, that of Kenneth Eugene Smith in 2024. Since then, the state has executed six other inmates with the method, and Louisiana has used it once.

Under the method, executioners strap inmates to a gurney with chest and shoulder harnesses and attach a mask to his face. Ultra-high-purity nitrogen gas flows into the mask, and that displaces breathable air until none is left. The inmate loses consciousness and dies.

Witness accounts from the first four Alabama executions describe “suffering, including conscious terror for several minutes, shaking, gasping, and other evidence of distress,” Louisiana Chief District Judge Shelly Dick wrote last year when addressing the method in her state. The witnesses saw inmates “writhing” under their restraints, “vigorous convulsing and shaking for four minutes,” heaving, spitting, and a “conscious struggling for life,” she wrote.

Initially, Marks ruled last week that Lee showed he was likely to experience pain during his execution but not to an unconstitutional degree. The 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals disagreed with her on Monday and sent the case back to her for reconsideration.

Lee’s execution would be the first in Alabama this year. Another inmate, Charles Lee “Sonny” Burton, had been set to be executed by nitrogen gas in March, but Ivey commuted his death sentence to life just two days before the execution. The decision had nothing to do with the execution method. Ivey said it would be “unjust” to take Burton’s life when he wasn’t the triggerman in an AutoZone robbery gone bad in 1991.

It was the second time the Republican governor has commuted an inmate’s sentence in her nine years in office. She has presided over 25 executions.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold cases and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.

As expected, running back Tai Phillips made his pledge to the Crimson Tide. He camped in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago and the Bama staff was sold. Phillips canceled his official visit to Florida State and will OV the Capstone starting Friday. Alabama will hold their second High School Camp this weekend with several other prospects visiting as well

Also in the running for his commitment were Ohio State, NC State, and Penn State.

In 2025, Phillips had 116 rushes for 919 yards (7.9 ypc) and 12 TD in just seven games. He has been clocked at 10.86 in the 100 and 22.04 (1.2) in the 200. He is rated 3-stars but is rising fast. Don’t be surprised if he gains another star by December. Updated rankings will likely come sometime after the summer camps conclude and the Dead Period begins (June 22). Phillips is from Fayetteville, NC, but will play at Irmo HS in Columbia, SC this fall.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s use of nitrogen gas to put people to death needs more study of whether it violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, a federal appeals court decided Monday.

The state first used nitrogen for capital punishment in 2024, and the ruling could upend Alabama’s next scheduled execution on Thursday. The method involves strapping a respirator to the person’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death from lack of oxygen.

The three-judge panel on Monday night reversed a judge’s May finding that the nitrogen method does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and remanded the case for additional consideration. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed last year by Jeffery Lee, a man on death row who is scheduled to be executed with nitrogen on Thursday at a south Alabama prison.

The panel stopped short of staying Lee’s planned execution. However, the panel asked the judge to consider whether his proposed alternative of a firing squad was feasible.

The U.S. Supreme Court requires a two-prong test for people challenging the constitutionality of an execution method. They must show the method provides a substantial risk of superadded pain and that a feasible alternative method is available. The appeals court said Lee met the first test but sent it back to the trial court to consider the second.

The appeals panel raised concerns about the nitrogen method and how long it might take the subject to lose awareness.

“In our view, the overall suffering described by the district court, which lasts for one to three minutes, presents a substantial risk of serious harm over and above death itself,” the panel wrote. “Counting to 60 or 180 seconds is not a quick exercise, and constitutionally speaking, that timeframe is intolerable given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office did not immediately issue a comment on the decision. The state has maintained the method is constitutional.

Opponents of the method cheered the decision.

“For the first time a court has acknowledged what I and so many others have seen with our own eyes. Nitrogen executions are a unique form of horror,” said the Rev. Jeff Hood, who was the spiritual adviser at two nitrogen executions.

Nitrogen has been used in eight executions nationally — seven times in Alabama and once in Louisiana. Lee’s attorneys argued it causes excessive suffering. Alabama’s last nitrogen execution took more than 30 minutes to complete.

Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawn shop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.

The ruling came several hours after a vigil was held at the Alabama Capitol urging the governor to reduce Lee’s sentence to life imprisonment.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he opposed the clemency request.

“The people of Alabama have not forgotten Jimmy and Elaine. I have not forgotten them,” Marshall said. “Anything short of carrying out the sentence imposed by the court falls short of justice for the victims, and that is not what victims of this state deserve.”