- Alabama is scheduled to execute 49-year-old Jeffery Lee by lethal injection on Thursday evening for the 1998 murders of two pawn shop workers.
- Lee was convicted of capital murder after fatally shooting pawn shop owner Jimmy Ellis, a notable Elvis Presley impersonator, and employee Elaine Thompson.
- His attorneys are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, highlighting that the jury voted 7-5 for life in prison before the trial judge overrode the recommendation.
- Alabama abolished judicial overrides in death penalty cases in 2017, but the change was not made retroactive.
- Defense lawyers are also arguing that the state remains bound by a prior agreement to execute Lee using nitrogen gas rather than lethal injection.
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