Alabama killer's haunting final words before execution for double murder
A death row inmate has been executed via lethal injection, three months after the US Supreme Court blocked the state from using nitrogen gas.
Jeffrey Lee, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:22pm local time at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, on Thursday (September 17). The state said he declined the option to have a final meal, although he did have other food and snacks throughout the day.
According to authorities, the day before his execution, Lee had 17 visitors and three phone calls. The day of his execution, he had six visitors and zero phone calls, but the details of who visited and spoke to Lee in his final hours have not been released.
Lee was sentenced to death for a Dallas County pawn shop robbery, in which he was convicted of murder, fatally shooting the owner of Jimmy's Pawn Shop, Jimmy Ellis, who was also an Elvis Presley impersonator. Jimmy's wife, Elaine Thompson, was also shot and killed by Lee.
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"All is well," Lee said in his final words before death. "I just want to say to my family, I love them. To my brothers on life row, I love them."
He was then said to have 'clenched his fists on the prison gurney' as he was injected.
The man's eyes were closed throughout, and his spiritual advisor prayed and held his feet, the New York Post reports.
Lee spent 26 years on Alabama's death row after killing Ellis and Thompson.
His execution was originally planned for June this year, using nitrogen gas - which he agreed to in 2018. This method, in which a large amount of nitrogen is inhaled, resulting in it replacing oxygen in the body, was used for the first time in the state of Alabama just two years ago.
As of now, this method is legalized in just five US states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
However, District Judge Emily Marks barred this, saying it was 'unconstitutionally cruel and violated the inmate's constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment'.
Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall said: "The case against Jeffrey Lee was overwhelming and unambiguous. Today we proved that every innocent life is worth fighting for, no matter how long it takes."
Who was the first death row inmate in Alabama to be executed using nitrogen gas?
Despite Lee's execution via the method being blocked, the state of Alabama executed Kenneth Smith via nitrogen gas in 2024.
He was the first known inmate in Alabama to be executed using this method.
He was sentenced in 1998 for his role in a murder for hire, as per CNN, with the outlet reporting that he had 'survived a botched execution attempt by lethal injection'.
It is not uncommon for an execution to not run smoothly.
As per the Death Penalty Information Center, it was estimated that around three percent of executions were botched between 1890 and 2010.
Death row expert and psychologist Bill Kimberlin, who has attended hundreds of inmate executions, spoke to UNILAD about witnessing a botched lethal injection.
"The executions are horrible, there's just no way around it," Kimberlin revealed.
"Most people think it's like putting an animal down, but my very first execution, because I've seen a number of them, my first one lasted over two hours," he said.
Kimberlin revealed that during the first lethal injection he witnessed: "The guy had to get off of the table to go to the restroom and then come back and hop back on because it was taking so long."
Kiesha Dosanjh