ATMORE, ALABAMA — Alabama executed Jeffery Lee by lethal injection on September 17, 2026. Lee was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The execution began just after 6 p.m. following the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of Lee's request for a stay that afternoon. Lee clenched his fists on the prison gurney as the injection began. His spiritual adviser held Lee’s feet and appeared to pray during the procedure.

Lee closed his eyes and did not appear to open them again after the injection began. In his final words, Lee addressed those watching. "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.

The Alabama Department of Corrections scheduled the September 17 date after the high court rejected Lee's emergency stay application. This action reversed a prior agreement between the state and the inmate regarding the method of execution. Lee had been scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on June 11, 2026, but a judge ruled that month that the method violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court declined to lift that ruling on June 11.

The legal dispute centered on a 2018 settlement. Lee filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging Alabama's lethal injection protocol. He agreed to dismiss that litigation in 2018 after the state agreed to carry out his execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

Alabama began carrying out some executions using nitrogen gas in 2024. The gas has been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana.

After the June ruling blocked nitrogen use, the Alabama attorney general’s office filed paperwork on June 12 to set a new execution date using lethal injection. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled against Lee, stating that the facts of the case changed the agreement made in 2018. State attorneys argued in filings that Lee had shifted his position. "It is Lee who has changed positions," the state argued in its response to the Supreme Court.

State lawyers further contended that Lee's demands were inconsistent. "He challenged the very method he elected. Now, having won permanent injunctive relief, he insists that the State must either ‘revise the Protocol’ (precisely how, he does not specify) or ‘proceed by firing squad’ (unauthorized in Alabama) to carry out his judicial execution," the state argued. Lee had asked to die by firing squad as an alternative, although Alabama does not authorize it.

Lee expressed feelings of betrayal regarding the state's reversal in a recording made by his legal team at the end of August. "To be able to walk out of that death cell on June 12, it felt like I was in Lala Land," Lee said in the recording. He described the emotional impact of the temporary reprieve. "It felt like I didn’t actually walk out of there, it is kind of hard to explain that feeling of being alive, just simply being alive," he said in the recording.

The sentence itself drew criticism due to its origin. Dallas County Circuit Judge Jack Meigs overrode the jury's recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. The jury in Lee's case voted 7-5 to recommend a sentence of life without parole. Alabama abolished judicial override in capital cases in 2017, but the law was not retroactive.

Lee’s attorneys issued a statement after the execution condemning the process. "His death sentence rested solely on judicial override — an old law that Alabama has repealed," Lee’s attorneys said in a statement after the execution. They characterized the state's actions as unethical.

"The State itself concluded this practice was wrong enough to abandon yet still put a man to death under it. That is a moral failure, not just a legal formality," Lee’s attorneys said in a statement.

Supporters of Lee's clemency bid held a rally outside the Alabama Capitol on Tuesday under the banner "HONOR THE JURY." Death penalty opponents delivered a petition signed by more than 8,000 people to Governor Kay Ivey’s office on Tuesday. Supporters gathered in a vigil Thursday night outside the Alabama Governor's Mansion. Governor Kay Ivey declined to intervene in Lee's case.

Gov. Kay Ivey has presided over 26 executions as governor. She commuted Rocky Myers' death sentence to life in prison in 2025. Governor Kay Ivey commuted Charles “Sonny” Burton's death sentence to life in prison earlier in 2026.

A spokeswoman for the governor defended the decision to proceed with the execution. "It preserved all existing death sentences, ensuring promises are kept to victims’ loved ones," Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for Ivey, said in a statement. Maiola referenced a previous execution to counter arguments about the method change. "So this argument is moot on its own, as we saw when Governor Ivey and the Alabama Department of Corrections carried out the execution of murderer-for-hire Kenneth Eugene Smith in 2024," she said.

"Tonight, that promise was fulfilled for his victims, Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson, as well as for their loved ones who have long-awaited his sentence to be carried out," Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. Lawyers with the attorney general’s office emphasized the delay in justice. "An unpunished murder is an intrinsic and ongoing harm to those interests and to the rule of law. Nearly twenty-eight years is decades too long," lawyers with the attorney general’s office wrote in a filing.

The crime occurred on December 12, 1998. Jeffery Lee was convicted of killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a robbery at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville on December 12, 1998. Lee entered the pawn shop with his brother and cousin.

Lee said he was looking at wedding rings for his girlfriend. Jimmy Ellis was the owner of Jimmy’s Pawn Shop. Elaine Thompson was an employee at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop. Elaine Thompson was Jimmy Ellis's ex-wife. Jimmy Ellis performed as the masked singer "Orion" and was an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Lee returned to the pawn shop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, Thompson, and the other employee. Lee wounded employee Helen King during the 1998 robbery. A third employee survived the 1998 shooting by pretending to be dead.

The surviving witness called 911 after Lee left the store. Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder.

Lee's execution was the second in Alabama in 2026. Jeremy Williams was executed by Alabama on August 13, 2026. Twenty-seven people have been executed in the U.S. in 2026.

Why It Matters

This execution shows the legal and ethical complexities surrounding judicial override, a sentencing practice Alabama abolished in 2017 but which remains applicable to cases decided before that date. The reversal of the state's agreement to use nitrogen gas, a method it adopted in 2024, raises questions about the binding nature of settlements in capital cases and the state's ability to change execution protocols after lengthy legal battles. The case reflects the tension between finality in criminal justice and the evolving standards of punishment, as seen in the courts' rulings on nitrogen hypoxia and the legislative repeal of judicial override.

The event also reflects broader national trends in capital punishment, with 27 executions carried out across the U.S. in 2026. Alabama's use of both lethal injection and nitrogen gas places it at the center of debates over execution methods, particularly as other states consider or adopt alternative protocols. The public response, including rallies and petitions, demonstrates continued engagement with death penalty issues, even as governors exercise clemency powers in select cases, as seen with Governor Ivey's recent commutations.

What's New

Recent reporting has brought forward additional statements from key figures involved in the case. Rep. Chris England commented on the contradiction between legislative action and executive decisions. ""I find it strange that the same governor who would sign that legislation, and outlaw judicial override, would allow someone who was sentenced in that way, to be executed," said Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa."

State attorneys elaborated on their legal stance regarding Lee's changing requests. He challenged the very method he elected. Now, having won permanent injunctive relief, he insists that the State must either ‘revise the Protocol’ (precisely how, he does not specify) or ‘proceed by firing squad’ (unauthorized in Alabama) to carry out his judicial execution," the state argued. "Under any circumstances, if this trial occurred today and the jury came back with life without parole, he would not be on death row and scheduled to die tomorrow, England said.

Legal filings provided further insight into the arguments presented to the Supreme Court. The petition asks this Court to determine whether the State may execute Mr. Lee by lethal injection notwithstanding its prior representation that it would execute him by nitrogen hypoxia, Lee's attorney wrote in a filing with the high court. Governor Ivey's office clarified its position on the precedent set by previous executions.

So this argument is moot on its own, as we saw when Governor Ivey and the Alabama Department of Corrections carried out the execution of murderer-for-hire Kenneth Eugene Smith in 2024, Gina Maiola said. Lee's personal reflections on the period between the June stay and the September execution were also revealed. To be able to walk out of that death cell on June 12, it felt like I was in Lala Land, Lee said in a recording made by his legal team at the end of August. He expressed a sense of obligation from the state. I feel like they owe me their word because they came into agreement in 2018, that they wouldn’t do what they are trying to do now, Lee said in the recording. He described the surreal nature of the experience. It felt like I didn’t actually walk out of there, it is kind of hard to explain that feeling of being alive, just simply being alive, Lee said in the recording. Lee also shared his mindset upon learning of the new date. That day I found out, ‘Oh, they are going to seek another date for you,’ I came up with a phrase, ‘I was going to enjoy the victory, but I wasn’t going to enjoy the spoils,’” he said in the recording.