MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas, declaring the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks issued the decision after an appeals court reversed her earlier ruling. Jeffery Lee was scheduled for execution Thursday. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office is appealing the decision. Marks noted the state has other execution methods, like lethal injection and the electric chair. She also mentioned the state could switch to a firing squad, which Lee prefers. Lee was convicted of capital murder in 1998.
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