Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama. This comes three months after a judge blocked the state from using nitrogen gas for his execution. Lee is being put to death for killing two people during a 1998 robbery at a pawn shop in rural Dallas County. The state had initially planned to execute him on June 11 using nitrogen gas, but after the judge halted that, the Alabama attorney general’s office quickly filed to reschedule the execution using lethal injection instead. Lee and his supporters have tried to stop the execution, arguing that the jury in his case had recommended life imprisonment, which the judge overruled. His attorneys also challenged the state’s ability to switch execution methods, saying it violates a prior agreement that Lee had accepted nitrogen gas as his preferred method. The double murder occurred on December 12, 1998, at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville, a small town near Selma. The shop’s owner, Jimmy Ellis, and an employee, Elaine Thompson, were shot and killed. A third employee survived by pretending to be dead and later called 911. Witnesses said Lee entered the store, asked to see wedding rings, and said he would return after getting money from his grandmother. He later returned with a sawed-off shotgun and shot the two victims and the employee. Ellis, known for his Elvis Presley-like voice, had gained a national following as a singer and was the subject of a 2015 documentary. Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder. At the time of his conviction, the jury voted 7-5 to recommend a life sentence without parole, but the trial judge overruled the recommendation and imposed the death penalty. In 2017, Alabama passed a law preventing judges from overriding jury sentencing decisions in capital cases, but the change did not apply to cases already on death row, including Lee’s. Supporters of Lee’s clemency bid held a rally outside the Alabama Capitol under the banner “HONOR THE JURY.” Lee’s lawyers are challenging the switch from nitrogen gas to lethal injection, arguing that the state had previously agreed to use nitrogen and that the change violates that agreement. Lee’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the execution to consider whether the state can legally switch execution methods. They argue the state could revise its nitrogen protocol to meet constitutional standards or use an alternative method like a firing squad. The state attorney general’s office, however, has asked the Supreme Court to allow the execution to proceed, stating that the delay has been too long and that an unpunished murder continues to harm victims and the rule of law. For years, lethal injection was the most common execution method in the U.S. until difficulties in obtaining the necessary drugs led states like Alabama to explore alternatives. While lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary method, the state began using nitrogen gas in 2024, which causes death by suffocation. Nitrogen gas has been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana.