Atmore, Alabama

Alabama executed Jeffery Lee, 49, by lethal injection Thursday evening at Holman Correctional Facility, pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m., for the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a robbery at Jimmy's Pawn Shop in Orrville. Ellis, known for performing as masked Elvis impersonator "Orion," and Thompson were shot along with a third employee who survived by feigning death and later testified against Lee. In his final words, Lee expressed love for his family and fellow death row inmates.

The execution followed a judge's ruling that had blocked the state's original plan to execute Lee via nitrogen gas in June over constitutional concerns. The attorney general's office then sought a new date using lethal injection, despite a 2018 agreement tied to a prior lawsuit stating nitrogen hypoxia would be used if Lee were executed. His attorneys argued the switch violated that agreement; the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay request hours before the execution.

Lee's case drew added scrutiny because the jury that convicted him voted 7-5 for life without parole, but the trial judge overrode that recommendation—a practice Alabama has since abolished, though not retroactively. Gov. Kay Ivey declined to grant clemency. Lee was the 27th person executed in the U.S. this year and the second in Alabama.