June 9, 2026
Set To Die By Gas in 2 Days, Alabama Inmate Pleads to be Shot Instead
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed 49-year-old Alabama death row inmate and convicted double murderer, Jeffrey Lee is set to die by nitrogen gas on Thursday. Lee filed an appeal for a stay of execution, citing several witness accounts of suffering by at least four other inmates who died by the same method. While the court agreed the method is cruel, it sent Lee’s case to a lower court to determine whether Lee could die by firing squad instead of nitrogen gas. There’s another twist to this story, however, the jury that convicted Lee recommended life in prison, not the death penalty and his lawyers are arguing the jury’s decision should be honored.”
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Tuesday, June ninth, and he was sentenced to life in prison by a jury.
00:00:09
Speaker 1: So why is the state.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: Of Alabama planning to execute him in two days? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and one of the more fascinating execution cases we have covered. Yes, what I just said is true, Robes, would you leave you scratching your head? And then there's a court decision that will also leave you scratching your head? But right now Alabama's planning to execute a guy on Thursday.
00:00:32
Speaker 3: That's correct.
00:00:33
Speaker 4: And despite the fact that a court of appeals just ruled that the way the State of Alabama is about to execute this man is intolerable and cruel. Yet this appeals court decision stopped short of staying his execution and in fact threw it down to a lower court. And basically, it appears right now that the only option Jeffrey Lee has is how he is not going how he is going to die, not if he is going to die.
00:01:06
Speaker 2: And Jeffery Lee is a convicted double murderer convicted for a crime back in nineteen ninety eight at a pawn shopping in which he killed the owner and also killed an employee, also attempted murder for somebody else who was in that shop. So this is not one of those cases robes where people are hooting and hollering about innocence and we need to retest some evidence. This ain't that there are two particular issues here, robes, you just hit on one. Let's go with the first. That might leave people a little dumbfounded. When he went through his trial back in the late nineties, he was convicted and a jury got to decide whether or not he is going to get life in prison or the death penalty, and robes, they pretty much were pretty clear in what they wanted.
00:01:49
Speaker 4: Yes, a majority seven to five ruled in favor, and he was twenty one years old at the time of his conviction. By the way, he's forty nine years old now, but he was just twenty one, and the majority of the jurors voted that they believed that he should receive life in prison. A judge overturned the recommendation and instead sentenced lead to death, and that's.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: What is called judicial override.
00:02:17
Speaker 4: Now, in twenty seventeen, the state of Alabama followed some other states and made that against the law. So they repealed the practice for all future cases. They did not, however, put that law in place retroactively.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: So this is where we are, and this is what the law is.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: You can take up issue with it and say, well, it should apply to everybody, but that's not how the law was written. So fine, and you can make the argument, and it's why they changed the law because it's something about that that didn't seem fair. Twelve jurors, my peers here, just decided they want to send me to jail, and you decide, you know better. There does seem something oh.
00:02:57
Speaker 4: Or something wrong that seems and it seems like it is fraught with potential. Just one man's decision could be called into question versus the decision of twelve collectively. Look that it makes zero sense that you would let someone and it's not just make a decision, but override a jury's decision.
00:03:16
Speaker 3: That's the part that is puzzling.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: So that argument can be had, and that argument was had, and that's why some states are changing their laws. Didn't change it to help this guy. But look, that is a legit argument to have. But as far as the law goes, this is what it is.
00:03:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, and by the way, there are twenty seven current inmates in the state of Alabama who fall under this same period of time that Lee does, where they were convicted before this law was changed in twenty seventeen. And so yes, twenty seven other inmates are now scheduled to die or are waiting for their execution dates, even though a jury said they should be sentenced to life.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, this is one reason that this story in particular is making headlines right now because people are once again examining that saying is it fair? So the governor there is not listening at least to that argument. There's not much of an argument you can make in court, but at least that's what some opponents of the death penalty are throwing out there. The other one is the bigger one and the more complicated one Robe because the state of Alabama has been using nitrogen gas for its executions. I believe all of them last year were using nitrogen gas. So he is going to be executed Robes with nitrogen gas coming up on Thursday, however, and Robes, this is a big However, there is a court that says that method is unlawful.
00:04:38
Speaker 4: Yes, and this is huge because I believe the organization that is fighting to save Lee's life called this ruling that just came down on Tuesday yesterday, the most significant legal development in the fight against this method of killing. And the argument is, and this is what the court found and will go over what some of the witnesses who have want seven people die by this method in the state of Alabama. Four of those executions, they weren't deemed botch, but they were deemed incredibly uncomfortable to witness. And so the court took in some of those witness accounts and said that, yes, it takes too long basically for an inmate to die by nitrogen gas. They said that the time that it takes three to four minutes, they called it intolerable.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: They say it causes severe.
00:05:28
Speaker 4: Air hunger and corresponding emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort for several minutes. And they actually said, I thought this was interesting, that the suffering presents a substantial risk of serious harm over and above death itself. Those are serious words and significant findings, and.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: They're the only ones so far who have found it.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: But this is relevant ropes that a court is saying that one method of execution that is being used and will probably get more popular. You could argue, given drugs and the availability, can't find veins those kinds of things, so that we might see this more and you're you're saying this is cruel and unusual. A court has ruled this method is cruel and unusual. They just did so, and rolds, we got to do something with this. This is going to this is going to lead to something else, And when it comes to executions in this country, we're going to have to make a death definitive decision about using it moving forward. We're gonna have to improve how it's being used or we're going to have to get rid of it.
00:06:35
Speaker 4: Exactly because death row inmates, I think this is a fair like an obvious statement. Aren't guaranteed a pain free death? I don't think you can guarantee a pain free death. But our US constitution requires executions to be free.
00:06:49
Speaker 3: Of cruel and unusual punishment, period.
00:06:53
Speaker 4: So that's something that death penalty opponents are pointing to when it comes to this exact method of execution. Look, here's what happens. The inmates strap to the gurney. You have a chest and a shoulder harness, and then they attach this mask to your face, and then through that mask, an ultra high purity nitrogen gas flows into your mask and eventually kills the inmate. But when you hear what the witness accounts were from at least four of these executions, it's hard to hear.
00:07:25
Speaker 3: It's hard to read.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Rose, We're yes, we're executing people. What do you want to the firing squad? I mean it's ugly. I mean, go after the firing squad. They literally put a bullseye on your chest and have three dudes shoot at you. That's not cruel and unusual. It sounds very cruel and unusual to me. So I understand Rhodes every method. I can't imagine we are doing this ceremony, strapping somebody down, giving them a final meal, giving them their last words, and all of that seems cruel and unusual to me. But what's the limit, Robes, what's the line of how much suffering is you're supposed to have when you're being killed? It is anxiety inducing, Yeah, it is awful.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: I'd imagine what's the line?
00:08:13
Speaker 4: And I think that is the big question, because yes, these witness accounts describe suffering, including conscious terror for several minutes. They describe shaking, gasping, writhing under the restraints. They say vigorous, convulsing and shaking for up to four minutes, heaving, spitting, struggling for life.
00:08:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're being killed this method. You put a mask on and there is something you're breathing, but you are being suffocated. Imagine that you are breathing something in yet that very thing is suffocating you. This nitrogen gas is replacing the oxygen in yoursels. They're going away. You're losing oxygen. You are suffocating. Yes, that's horrific. By the description, I don't need to be in the room rooms. That is cruel and freaking unusual. Yeah, that is awful.
00:09:10
Speaker 4: It's so interesting you made a comparison to the firing squad. Well, interestingly enough, that's what Jeffrey Lee wants. So if he obviously he wants a stay of execution that.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: Was not granted.
00:09:20
Speaker 4: But what he's hoping for now and this is what a lower court is deciding now, and it's just got a matter of hours now left to make this call. But he would prefer the firing squad to the nitrogen gas mask.
00:09:34
Speaker 1: Okay, that's that's an option.
00:09:36
Speaker 2: There in Alabama. Right, Yes, these states have it. We've seen several of at least one or two.
00:09:41
Speaker 1: Maybe last year. Yes, so it happens. We shall see.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: But that lower court Robes, before this court made its ruling, also looked at this idea of the suffering and the way they the judge there put it.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: It's an inescapable consequence of death. You got to be scared.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: You're gonna struggle, you're gonna freak out, You're gonna all these things. What are you supposed to do? Is there anything they can give them to just peacefully go to sleep and die in their sleep.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:10:12
Speaker 2: But Robes, this is all ropes, an inescapable consequence of death. When you have a date on the calendar and you're waiting for that date for several months, and then you get word that the governor has signed that the Supreme Court is not going to listen to her rebeal that here's here's the here's can you feel this out? Let us know what you want to eat for your last meal?
00:10:33
Speaker 4: Roads that's awful, Ayes, But no one wants to physically suffer in the last four minutes of death. I you know, look and like to your point, is there a way to do it?
00:10:44
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know how we put down our animals.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: I've never witnessed it, but I don't feel like we hear descriptions of pain and suffering.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: It just seems like we found a way to thought.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: They shoot them on the track sometimes. I mean, well, I mean I again.
00:11:00
Speaker 2: Talk about how we treat animals versus how we treat human beings. It all sounds horrible.
00:11:04
Speaker 3: It does, It does all right.
00:11:06
Speaker 4: When we come back, we're going to talk about what happens next in this case, and we haven't even gotten into the crime itself. Two lives were lost at the hands of Jeffrey Lee. Welcome back, everyone, as we discuss the impending execution of forty nine year old Jeffrey Lee in the state of Alabama. He is set to die by nitrogen gas and look, yesterday, an appeals court put out a significant ruling deeming that yes, this method of execution, death by nitrogen gas, is cruel and that it is something that they labeled as intolerable. However, they stopped short of staying Jeffrey Lee's execution. He asked for a day of execution, but now he's asking to die by firing squads. So what happens next, Well, there are calls for Governor k Ivy to halt his execution, a because of the nitrogen gas ruling, and b perhaps because of what we discussed before the break, the fact that a jury of his peers actually recommended that he serve a life sentence, not a death sentence. A judge overturned that. That's now been outlawed, but it still is legal when he was actually sentenced to death. So look, we've already heard from Ivy. She says she ain't stepping in. She says she is not stopping this execution. So now we wait for this lower courts ruling to determine how he's going to die. But it doesn't seem like he's got any last minute appeals left. It does appear he will die on Thursday.
00:12:49
Speaker 2: There's a little there is a complicated legal question. Can he be executed with Finer's car? Why wasn't he in the first place if that was his preferred method? Just the state said, Nan, we're going to ignore your wishes. So why wasn't that done in the first place? If this was an issue.
00:13:04
Speaker 4: Unclear about when and how or if he even made the choice. Sometimes I believe it goes by default, but perhaps after hearing how some of these executions went, now he's changed his mind, which we've certainly seen happen before. But look, this will be the first execution in the state of Alabama this year. Do you remember I actually forgot about this, but we covered this. Charles sunny Burton was supposed to die by natrogen gas in March, but Ivy did commute his sentence to life in prison two days before the execution because he wasn't the actual triggerman in the robbery that turned to a murder. Remember he wasn't even in the store when it happened. Yeah, yes, this ain't this.
00:13:45
Speaker 3: Ain't that.
00:13:45
Speaker 4: So she has overseen twenty five executions in her nine years as governor. She's commuted two sentences and the last one was back in March.
00:13:54
Speaker 3: So this doesn't look like this is going to be Lee's fate.
00:13:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're a Republican governor in the South aren't really known for commuting sentences.
00:14:03
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:14:04
Speaker 4: So, anyway, in terms of Lee's crime, it's important not to forget that there were two victims and a third woman who actually was nearly killed. But it was a horrific pawnshop robbery gone wrong. And look, the Attorney General released a statement just about the crime.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: You know what, I give the Attorney General credit on this one, like you had. This was a good way to put it in some context. And you know what, It's true, babe. We do look at so many of these cases go oh, that poor old guy.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: Why do we need to execute this old man?
00:14:35
Speaker 2: Do we really have to all right back up thirty or forty years when he was a much younger man creaking havoc on society.
00:14:43
Speaker 1: I thought there was a good statement.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly was.
00:14:45
Speaker 4: We'll read it for you right here, but yes, and he really gets into the crime itself and why it's important to see justice through to this day.
00:14:54
Speaker 3: He said.
00:14:54
Speaker 4: Overtime, it can be easy to look at these convicted murderers as old men rather than the killers they were, or when they stole the lives of their victims and terrorized their communities. Those victims are the people I keep in mind. I think of the hopes and dreams of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson, the futures and the lives with their families that were senselessly taken from them by Jeffrey Lee's premeditated and cruel actions. Their voices were silenced on December twelfth, nineteen ninety eight, and it is a shame that there are those out there who feel the need to amplify the voice of mister Lee over the voices of his victims. The people of Alabama have not forgotten Jimmy and Elaine. I have not forgotten them. 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.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: That I can't argue with that, bro.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody, even defendants, everybody in prison is entitled to good representation, is entitled to the legal process and go through the full legal process. That's true, and it should have representation and should have a voice. But he makes a good point, Robes. The victims are around to speak for themselves, and oftentimes when it gets close to on an execution day, you are hearing so much from the potential or the death row inmates side, from folks trying to save that person's life. And yeah, there are some articles written every now and again about the family and whatnot, and who's still coming to the execution? But Robes it is this story is getting his name, his argument, his needs, his rights right under the constitution, his comfort. We can't let him be uncomfortable for three minutes.
00:16:43
Speaker 1: We have to stop this. It's wrong. Yeah, well he shot two people in the face.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, he walked into a pawn shop.
00:16:49
Speaker 4: First, I believe he asked about an engagement ring, then came back with a gun and just open fire, and then in a panic, threw the gun down and ran out. One of them survived, and she was I believe, shot in the hand. She was able to crawl to the door and lock it and then call nine one one, and thank god, because he came back.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: He came back for the gun.
00:17:10
Speaker 4: She played dead initially, and so he thought he had killed everyone. Then he came back for the gun and he was locked out of the pawn shop. I can only imagine what would have happened had she not had the thought ahead of time to lock that door. So she survived by her own sheer strength and forethought of what could happen next.
00:17:29
Speaker 3: She called nine one one.
00:17:30
Speaker 4: It was too late for the shop owners, but yeah, they were just there making a living at a pawn shop, did nothing wrong and lost their lives in the process.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: So yes, think about him being comfortable for three minutes, right, and remember the horror of that woman crawling around having to play dead because this guy's coming back to finish a job or get the gun or get a ring or whatever he's doing. It's that was worth noting. That was worth noting ropes.
00:17:56
Speaker 4: Yes, so we will continue to keep our eye on this situation in Alabama to find out exactly just how mister Lee is going to die on Thursday, but that execution is set again. It is Alabama's first execution of the year. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Ami Roeboch alongside TJ.
00:18:16
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Tuesday, June ninth, and he was sentenced to life in prison by a jury.
00:00:09
Speaker 1: So why is the state.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: Of Alabama planning to execute him in two days? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and one of the more fascinating execution cases we have covered. Yes, what I just said is true, Robes, would you leave you scratching your head? And then there's a court decision that will also leave you scratching your head? But right now Alabama's planning to execute a guy on Thursday.
00:00:32
Speaker 3: That's correct.
00:00:33
Speaker 4: And despite the fact that a court of appeals just ruled that the way the State of Alabama is about to execute this man is intolerable and cruel. Yet this appeals court decision stopped short of staying his execution and in fact threw it down to a lower court. And basically, it appears right now that the only option Jeffrey Lee has is how he is not going how he is going to die, not if he is going to die.
00:01:06
Speaker 2: And Jeffery Lee is a convicted double murderer convicted for a crime back in nineteen ninety eight at a pawn shopping in which he killed the owner and also killed an employee, also attempted murder for somebody else who was in that shop. So this is not one of those cases robes where people are hooting and hollering about innocence and we need to retest some evidence. This ain't that there are two particular issues here, robes, you just hit on one. Let's go with the first. That might leave people a little dumbfounded. When he went through his trial back in the late nineties, he was convicted and a jury got to decide whether or not he is going to get life in prison or the death penalty, and robes, they pretty much were pretty clear in what they wanted.
00:01:49
Speaker 4: Yes, a majority seven to five ruled in favor, and he was twenty one years old at the time of his conviction. By the way, he's forty nine years old now, but he was just twenty one, and the majority of the jurors voted that they believed that he should receive life in prison. A judge overturned the recommendation and instead sentenced lead to death, and that's.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: What is called judicial override.
00:02:17
Speaker 4: Now, in twenty seventeen, the state of Alabama followed some other states and made that against the law. So they repealed the practice for all future cases. They did not, however, put that law in place retroactively.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: So this is where we are, and this is what the law is.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: You can take up issue with it and say, well, it should apply to everybody, but that's not how the law was written. So fine, and you can make the argument, and it's why they changed the law because it's something about that that didn't seem fair. Twelve jurors, my peers here, just decided they want to send me to jail, and you decide, you know better. There does seem something oh.
00:02:57
Speaker 4: Or something wrong that seems and it seems like it is fraught with potential. Just one man's decision could be called into question versus the decision of twelve collectively. Look that it makes zero sense that you would let someone and it's not just make a decision, but override a jury's decision.
00:03:16
Speaker 3: That's the part that is puzzling.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: So that argument can be had, and that argument was had, and that's why some states are changing their laws. Didn't change it to help this guy. But look, that is a legit argument to have. But as far as the law goes, this is what it is.
00:03:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, and by the way, there are twenty seven current inmates in the state of Alabama who fall under this same period of time that Lee does, where they were convicted before this law was changed in twenty seventeen. And so yes, twenty seven other inmates are now scheduled to die or are waiting for their execution dates, even though a jury said they should be sentenced to life.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, this is one reason that this story in particular is making headlines right now because people are once again examining that saying is it fair? So the governor there is not listening at least to that argument. There's not much of an argument you can make in court, but at least that's what some opponents of the death penalty are throwing out there. The other one is the bigger one and the more complicated one Robe because the state of Alabama has been using nitrogen gas for its executions. I believe all of them last year were using nitrogen gas. So he is going to be executed Robes with nitrogen gas coming up on Thursday, however, and Robes, this is a big However, there is a court that says that method is unlawful.
00:04:38
Speaker 4: Yes, and this is huge because I believe the organization that is fighting to save Lee's life called this ruling that just came down on Tuesday yesterday, the most significant legal development in the fight against this method of killing. And the argument is, and this is what the court found and will go over what some of the witnesses who have want seven people die by this method in the state of Alabama. Four of those executions, they weren't deemed botch, but they were deemed incredibly uncomfortable to witness. And so the court took in some of those witness accounts and said that, yes, it takes too long basically for an inmate to die by nitrogen gas. They said that the time that it takes three to four minutes, they called it intolerable.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: They say it causes severe.
00:05:28
Speaker 4: Air hunger and corresponding emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort for several minutes. And they actually said, I thought this was interesting, that the suffering presents a substantial risk of serious harm over and above death itself. Those are serious words and significant findings, and.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: They're the only ones so far who have found it.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: But this is relevant ropes that a court is saying that one method of execution that is being used and will probably get more popular. You could argue, given drugs and the availability, can't find veins those kinds of things, so that we might see this more and you're you're saying this is cruel and unusual. A court has ruled this method is cruel and unusual. They just did so, and rolds, we got to do something with this. This is going to this is going to lead to something else, And when it comes to executions in this country, we're going to have to make a death definitive decision about using it moving forward. We're gonna have to improve how it's being used or we're going to have to get rid of it.
00:06:35
Speaker 4: Exactly because death row inmates, I think this is a fair like an obvious statement. Aren't guaranteed a pain free death? I don't think you can guarantee a pain free death. But our US constitution requires executions to be free.
00:06:49
Speaker 3: Of cruel and unusual punishment, period.
00:06:53
Speaker 4: So that's something that death penalty opponents are pointing to when it comes to this exact method of execution. Look, here's what happens. The inmates strap to the gurney. You have a chest and a shoulder harness, and then they attach this mask to your face, and then through that mask, an ultra high purity nitrogen gas flows into your mask and eventually kills the inmate. But when you hear what the witness accounts were from at least four of these executions, it's hard to hear.
00:07:25
Speaker 3: It's hard to read.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Rose, We're yes, we're executing people. What do you want to the firing squad? I mean it's ugly. I mean, go after the firing squad. They literally put a bullseye on your chest and have three dudes shoot at you. That's not cruel and unusual. It sounds very cruel and unusual to me. So I understand Rhodes every method. I can't imagine we are doing this ceremony, strapping somebody down, giving them a final meal, giving them their last words, and all of that seems cruel and unusual to me. But what's the limit, Robes, what's the line of how much suffering is you're supposed to have when you're being killed? It is anxiety inducing, Yeah, it is awful.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: I'd imagine what's the line?
00:08:13
Speaker 4: And I think that is the big question, because yes, these witness accounts describe suffering, including conscious terror for several minutes. They describe shaking, gasping, writhing under the restraints. They say vigorous, convulsing and shaking for up to four minutes, heaving, spitting, struggling for life.
00:08:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're being killed this method. You put a mask on and there is something you're breathing, but you are being suffocated. Imagine that you are breathing something in yet that very thing is suffocating you. This nitrogen gas is replacing the oxygen in yoursels. They're going away. You're losing oxygen. You are suffocating. Yes, that's horrific. By the description, I don't need to be in the room rooms. That is cruel and freaking unusual. Yeah, that is awful.
00:09:10
Speaker 4: It's so interesting you made a comparison to the firing squad. Well, interestingly enough, that's what Jeffrey Lee wants. So if he obviously he wants a stay of execution that.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: Was not granted.
00:09:20
Speaker 4: But what he's hoping for now and this is what a lower court is deciding now, and it's just got a matter of hours now left to make this call. But he would prefer the firing squad to the nitrogen gas mask.
00:09:34
Speaker 1: Okay, that's that's an option.
00:09:36
Speaker 2: There in Alabama. Right, Yes, these states have it. We've seen several of at least one or two.
00:09:41
Speaker 1: Maybe last year. Yes, so it happens. We shall see.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: But that lower court Robes, before this court made its ruling, also looked at this idea of the suffering and the way they the judge there put it.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: It's an inescapable consequence of death. You got to be scared.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: You're gonna struggle, you're gonna freak out, You're gonna all these things. What are you supposed to do? Is there anything they can give them to just peacefully go to sleep and die in their sleep.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:10:12
Speaker 2: But Robes, this is all ropes, an inescapable consequence of death. When you have a date on the calendar and you're waiting for that date for several months, and then you get word that the governor has signed that the Supreme Court is not going to listen to her rebeal that here's here's the here's can you feel this out? Let us know what you want to eat for your last meal?
00:10:33
Speaker 4: Roads that's awful, Ayes, But no one wants to physically suffer in the last four minutes of death. I you know, look and like to your point, is there a way to do it?
00:10:44
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know how we put down our animals.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: I've never witnessed it, but I don't feel like we hear descriptions of pain and suffering.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: It just seems like we found a way to thought.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: They shoot them on the track sometimes. I mean, well, I mean I again.
00:11:00
Speaker 2: Talk about how we treat animals versus how we treat human beings. It all sounds horrible.
00:11:04
Speaker 3: It does, It does all right.
00:11:06
Speaker 4: When we come back, we're going to talk about what happens next in this case, and we haven't even gotten into the crime itself. Two lives were lost at the hands of Jeffrey Lee. Welcome back, everyone, as we discuss the impending execution of forty nine year old Jeffrey Lee in the state of Alabama. He is set to die by nitrogen gas and look, yesterday, an appeals court put out a significant ruling deeming that yes, this method of execution, death by nitrogen gas, is cruel and that it is something that they labeled as intolerable. However, they stopped short of staying Jeffrey Lee's execution. He asked for a day of execution, but now he's asking to die by firing squads. So what happens next, Well, there are calls for Governor k Ivy to halt his execution, a because of the nitrogen gas ruling, and b perhaps because of what we discussed before the break, the fact that a jury of his peers actually recommended that he serve a life sentence, not a death sentence. A judge overturned that. That's now been outlawed, but it still is legal when he was actually sentenced to death. So look, we've already heard from Ivy. She says she ain't stepping in. She says she is not stopping this execution. So now we wait for this lower courts ruling to determine how he's going to die. But it doesn't seem like he's got any last minute appeals left. It does appear he will die on Thursday.
00:12:49
Speaker 2: There's a little there is a complicated legal question. Can he be executed with Finer's car? Why wasn't he in the first place if that was his preferred method? Just the state said, Nan, we're going to ignore your wishes. So why wasn't that done in the first place? If this was an issue.
00:13:04
Speaker 4: Unclear about when and how or if he even made the choice. Sometimes I believe it goes by default, but perhaps after hearing how some of these executions went, now he's changed his mind, which we've certainly seen happen before. But look, this will be the first execution in the state of Alabama this year. Do you remember I actually forgot about this, but we covered this. Charles sunny Burton was supposed to die by natrogen gas in March, but Ivy did commute his sentence to life in prison two days before the execution because he wasn't the actual triggerman in the robbery that turned to a murder. Remember he wasn't even in the store when it happened. Yeah, yes, this ain't this.
00:13:45
Speaker 3: Ain't that.
00:13:45
Speaker 4: So she has overseen twenty five executions in her nine years as governor. She's commuted two sentences and the last one was back in March.
00:13:54
Speaker 3: So this doesn't look like this is going to be Lee's fate.
00:13:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're a Republican governor in the South aren't really known for commuting sentences.
00:14:03
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:14:04
Speaker 4: So, anyway, in terms of Lee's crime, it's important not to forget that there were two victims and a third woman who actually was nearly killed. But it was a horrific pawnshop robbery gone wrong. And look, the Attorney General released a statement just about the crime.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: You know what, I give the Attorney General credit on this one, like you had. This was a good way to put it in some context. And you know what, It's true, babe. We do look at so many of these cases go oh, that poor old guy.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: Why do we need to execute this old man?
00:14:35
Speaker 2: Do we really have to all right back up thirty or forty years when he was a much younger man creaking havoc on society.
00:14:43
Speaker 1: I thought there was a good statement.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly was.
00:14:45
Speaker 4: We'll read it for you right here, but yes, and he really gets into the crime itself and why it's important to see justice through to this day.
00:14:54
Speaker 3: He said.
00:14:54
Speaker 4: Overtime, it can be easy to look at these convicted murderers as old men rather than the killers they were, or when they stole the lives of their victims and terrorized their communities. Those victims are the people I keep in mind. I think of the hopes and dreams of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson, the futures and the lives with their families that were senselessly taken from them by Jeffrey Lee's premeditated and cruel actions. Their voices were silenced on December twelfth, nineteen ninety eight, and it is a shame that there are those out there who feel the need to amplify the voice of mister Lee over the voices of his victims. The people of Alabama have not forgotten Jimmy and Elaine. I have not forgotten them. 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.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: That I can't argue with that, bro.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody, even defendants, everybody in prison is entitled to good representation, is entitled to the legal process and go through the full legal process. That's true, and it should have representation and should have a voice. But he makes a good point, Robes. The victims are around to speak for themselves, and oftentimes when it gets close to on an execution day, you are hearing so much from the potential or the death row inmates side, from folks trying to save that person's life. And yeah, there are some articles written every now and again about the family and whatnot, and who's still coming to the execution? But Robes it is this story is getting his name, his argument, his needs, his rights right under the constitution, his comfort. We can't let him be uncomfortable for three minutes.
00:16:43
Speaker 1: We have to stop this. It's wrong. Yeah, well he shot two people in the face.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, he walked into a pawn shop.
00:16:49
Speaker 4: First, I believe he asked about an engagement ring, then came back with a gun and just open fire, and then in a panic, threw the gun down and ran out. One of them survived, and she was I believe, shot in the hand. She was able to crawl to the door and lock it and then call nine one one, and thank god, because he came back.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: He came back for the gun.
00:17:10
Speaker 4: She played dead initially, and so he thought he had killed everyone. Then he came back for the gun and he was locked out of the pawn shop. I can only imagine what would have happened had she not had the thought ahead of time to lock that door. So she survived by her own sheer strength and forethought of what could happen next.
00:17:29
Speaker 3: She called nine one one.
00:17:30
Speaker 4: It was too late for the shop owners, but yeah, they were just there making a living at a pawn shop, did nothing wrong and lost their lives in the process.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: So yes, think about him being comfortable for three minutes, right, and remember the horror of that woman crawling around having to play dead because this guy's coming back to finish a job or get the gun or get a ring or whatever he's doing. It's that was worth noting. That was worth noting ropes.
00:17:56
Speaker 4: Yes, so we will continue to keep our eye on this situation in Alabama to find out exactly just how mister Lee is going to die on Thursday, but that execution is set again. It is Alabama's first execution of the year. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Ami Roeboch alongside TJ.
00:18:16
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you soon.