After nitrogen execution blocked, convicted killer of famous Elvis impersonator set to die by lethal injection in Alabama

September 17, 2026 / 8:40 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The convicted killer of a famous Elvis Presley impersonator is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday night in Alabama, three months after his last execution date was canceled by a judge who blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.

Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to receive an injection beginning at 6 p.m. at south Alabama's William C. Holman Correctional Facility for killing two people during a 1998 pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County.

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…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/