Killer who gunned down famed Elvis impersonator set to be executed tonight

Killer who gunned down famed Elvis impersonator set to be executed tonight Alabama is set to execute a man with a chemical injection, months after a judge blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas - Bookmark Alabama is scheduled to execute Jeffery Lee by lethal injection Thursday evening, three months after a court blocked plans to put him to death using nitrogen gas. Lee, 49, is scheduled to be executed beginning at 6 p.m. at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama. He was convicted of killing two people during a 1998 pawn shop robbery in rural Dallas County. The state initially planned to execute Lee using nitrogen gas on June 11. After a judge blocked that method, the Alabama attorney general’s office sought a new execution date using lethal injection. Lee’s attorneys are making a final attempt to stop the execution, pointing to a 7-5 jury vote recommending life in prison without parole that was overridden by the trial judge. They have also asked the Supreme Court to consider whether Alabama can execute Lee by lethal injection after the state previously agreed that, if he were executed, it would be by nitrogen hypoxia. The murders occurred on Dec. 12, 1998, at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville, west of Selma. Prosecutors said Lee entered the store and asked to see wedding rings before leaving and returning with a sawed-off shotgun. He fatally shot owner Jimmy Ellis and employee Elaine Thompson and also shot a third worker, who survived by pretending to be dead before calling 911 after Lee left. Ellis had previously attracted national attention as an Elvis Presley impersonator who performed under the stage name “Orion” because of his vocal resemblance to the singer. His life later became the subject of a 2015 documentary. Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder. Although jurors voted 7-5 for life without parole, the trial judge overrode their recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama abolished judicial overrides in 2017, but the change was not retroactive. Lee is among roughly two dozen people on the state’s death row whose juries recommended life before judges imposed death sentences instead. Supporters seeking clemency for Lee gathered outside the Alabama Capitol on Tuesday carrying signs reading “HONOR THE JURY.” Lee’s attorneys are also challenging Alabama’s decision to switch his execution method. Lee sued over the state’s lethal injection protocol in 2016. After Alabama authorized nitrogen gas, he selected nitrogen hypoxia and dropped the lawsuit in 2018 after the state agreed that “if he is to be executed,” it would use that method. His lawyers argue Alabama remains bound by that agreement and cannot now execute him by lethal injection. They have asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution while it considers the issue. The Alabama attorney general’s office has argued that nothing prevents the state from changing methods and urged the court to allow the execution to proceed. “Nearly twenty-eight years is decades too long,” state lawyers wrote. Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method, although the state began using nitrogen gas in 2024. The procedure replaces breathable air with nitrogen through a respirator mask, causing death from oxygen deprivation. Nitrogen gas has since been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Twenty-six executions have been carried out across the US so far this year.