After nitrogen execution blocked, Alabama inmate to die by lethal injection

Alabama executed the convicted killer of a famous Elvis Presley impersonator by lethal injection on Thursday, three months after a judge's ruling blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.

Jeffery Lee, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, authorities said.

"All is well. I just want to say to my family, I love them. To my brothers on life row. I love them," Lee said in his final words.

As the injection began, Lee clenched his fists on the prison gurney. His spiritual adviser held Lee's feet and appeared to pray. Lee closed his eyes and did not appear to open them again.

Alabama originally planned to execute Lee on June 11 using nitrogen gas, a relatively new execution method the state tested for the first time in early 2024. It has been used multiple times since then, within and outside of Alabama, drawing scrutiny and criticism from some who have argued the method is poorly understood and likely causes unnecessary suffering.

Lee's first execution was blocked by an unprecedented decision by District Judge Emily Marks, who ruled Alabama's nitrogen gas protocol was unconstitutionally cruel and violated the inmate's constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. It barred Alabama from ever putting Lee to death using that protocol, so the Alabama attorney general's office quickly filed paperwork seeking a new execution date when he would be executed by lethal injection instead.

Lee and his supporters have made a final bid to spare him, noting the jury in his case had made a recommendation of life imprisonment, which the judge overrode. His attorneys also argued in court that the state should not be legally allowed to switch execution methods.

Twenty-seven people have been executed around the U.S. to date in 2026, and Lee's execution was the second in Alabama this year. In Texas, a man was given a lethal injection for his conviction in a triple murder at his neighbor's home. Elsewhere, a judge blocked plans Wednesday by the state of Georgia to execute a man who killed two real estate agents.

Lee was convicted for a double murder that occurred on Dec. 12, 1998, at Jimmy's Pawn Shop in Orrville, a small town west of Selma. Jimmy Ellis, the store's owner, and Elaine Thompson, a store employee, were shot and killed. Another employee survived by playing dead.

The surviving witness testified that Lee entered the store, asked to see wedding rings and said he would be back after getting money from his grandmother. Lee returned a short time later with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, Thompson and the other employee. The surviving witness fell to the floor, pretending to be dead, and called 911 once Lee left the store.

Ellis, a singer whose voice resembled Elvis Presley, had gained a national following for a time as an Elvis impersonator.