Governor Kay Ivey has scheduled the nitrogen hypoxia execution of Jeffrey James Lee, 49, for the 1998 murder of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson in an attempted robbery.
On Dec. 12, 1998, around noon, Lee entered Jimmy's Pawnshop in the town of Orrville in Dallas County, Armed with a sawed-off shotgun. Immediately upon entering the store, he shot Jimmy Ellis. After shooting Ellis, he shot Thompson in the face. Continuing his shooting, he shot another person, Helen King, and shot Ellis again. Thompson and Mr. Ellis died as a result of the shotgun blasts.
King survived the shooting after lying motionless on the floor pretending to be dead. Lee unsuccessfully attempted to take the cash register out of the store and made his escape with two others. A surveillance video captured the murders, and he later confessed after being captured in a Georgia motel.
The jury recommended Lee be sentenced to life in prison. However, the court overruled the recommendation, sentencing him to death and doling out an additional life sentence for the attempted murder of King.
Ivey set the execution time window to begin at 12:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 11. It expires at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, June 12.
Lee's attorneys have attempted to stay his execution, saying the process that involves replacing breathed oxygen with nitrogen, causing the subject to lose consciousness and die, violates the Constitutional provisions against cruel and unusual punishment. However, similar attempts have been made to no avail in the method's seven previous uses in the state.
Other anti-death penalty advocacy groups have also claimed it to be immoral to execute Lee, citing his childhood trauma, early substance abuse and a traumatic brain injury.
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