A federal judge permanently blocked Alabama from executing a death row inmate using nitrogen gas on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks declared that the method, also known as nitrogen hypoxia, violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The ruling specifically blocks the state from using this method to execute Jeffery Lee. The decision was issued one day after an appeals court reversed a previous ruling by Judge Marks that had found the method to be constitutional.
Judge Marks had previously allowed the execution to proceed, arguing at the time that no method of execution is entirely without pain.