MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks issued the decision a day after an appeals court reversed her ruling that the method is constitutional.
Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas. Lee was scheduled to be executed Thursday at an Alabama prison.
A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state is reviewing the decision and considering next steps, including an appeal. The case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has previously let nitrogen executions proceed.
A spokeswoman for Lee’s legal team said they did not have an immediate comment.
In her 26-page ruling, Marks said litigation is a constant in 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 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.”
Marks also ruled that the state could switch to Lee’s preferred method, a firing squad. Inmates challenging execution methods are required to suggest an alternative method.
“The State can readily obtain rifles, ammunition, and other materials necessary to carry out a firing squad execution. Additionally, the State would be able to modify space at Holman to carry out executions by firing squad. The State is also able to source and train volunteers willing to carry out such an execution,” Marks wrote.
Lee is currently housed at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop 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.
FILE- Alabama's lethal injection chamber at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is pictured, Oct. 7, 2002. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)
Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a competition was convicted of murder Tuesday in a trial that drew attention far beyond the booming Dallas suburb where the two students attended different high schools.
A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony's refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf's team.
Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and faces up to life in prison after a sentencing hearing in which his mother was the only witness. His lawyer had an arm around him when the guilty verdict was announced.
Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors that the tragedy had nothing to do with race.
Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn’t choose it. The same jury will determine the sentence.
“He’s very sorry for what he did. Please, have mercy on my son,” Anthony's mother, Kala Hayes, pleaded to jurors shortly after the verdict.
But prosecutor Bill Wirskye asked for a lengthy prison term.
“Mercy to the guilty,” he said, “is cruelty to the innocent.”
Earlier Tuesday, during the trial's closing arguments, the jury heard dueling narratives from Wirskye and defense attorney Mike Howard about what happened in April 2025.
Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.
Howard told jurors that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.”
“Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.”
During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said that Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses have testified that Anthony was the aggressor.
“This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Wirskye said.
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. The teens, both from Frisco, didn't know each other.
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said.
The prosecutor also made a broader pitch to the jury: “Ultimately, this case is about accountability. What kind of community do you want to live in.”
The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32 degrees Celsius) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief from one woman — “This isn’t real!” — when the result became known.
Frisco is one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities that is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.
Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team’s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and pulled out a knife.
One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, “You don’t have anything in that backpack. It’s Frisco.”
The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college.
Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
A crowd gathers by Collin County Sheriffs vehicles parke in front of the Collin County courthouse after the Karmelo Anthony verdict was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
An Austin Metcalf supporter holds a sign as law enfrocement officilals walk past in front of the Collin County courthouse following the verdict in the trial was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Karmelo Anthony supporters voice their opinions in front of the Collin County courthouse after a verdict was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
An emotional Karmelo Anthony supporter is consoled by another outside the Collin County courthouse after the verdict was reached in the trial Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Law enforcement officials stand in front of the Collin County courthouse after the verdict was reached in the Karmelo Anthony trial Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A person walks around announcing the guilty verdict in the Karmelo Anthony trial in front of the Collin County courthouse, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Supporters for Karmelo Anthony demonstrate in front of the Collin County courthouse Thursday, June 4, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A Collin County seriff drives past the front of the county courthouse Thursday, June 4, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
