2026年6月10日 / 美国东部时间上午9:41 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
作者：艾米莉·梅·查霍尔 新闻编辑
艾米莉·梅·查霍尔是CBSNews.com的记者兼新闻编辑，通常报道突发新闻、极端天气和气候议题。她此前曾为《洛杉矶时报》、BuzzFeed和《新闻周刊》等媒体撰稿。
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一名联邦法官已禁止阿拉巴马州使用氮气缺氧法处决一名死囚，推翻了此前的观点，认定这种备受争议且相对新颖的处决方式违反宪法，属于残忍刑罚。
周二发布的这项裁决永久阻止该州对49岁的杰弗里·李使用氮气气体执行死刑。
李原定于周四被处以氮气缺氧死刑——该方式指强迫受刑人通过防毒面具呼吸纯氮气，直至因缺氧窒息死亡。他因1998年的双重谋杀罪被定罪后，已在阿拉巴马州死囚区被关押了二十多年。
法庭文件显示，检方称他在试图抢劫一家店铺时枪杀了店主吉米·埃利斯和雇员伊莱恩·汤普森。
在裁决中，美国地区法官艾米莉·马克斯表示，阿拉巴马州的氮气处决程序违反了第八修正案中保护民众免受残忍且不寻常惩罚的条款。这一裁决推翻了马克斯周一的一项早期判决——当时她认定该处决方式符合宪法。
“李已通过优势证据证明，该处决程序构成残忍且不寻常的惩罚，”马克斯在周二的裁决中写道，同时提及了上诉法院周一的意见。
今年4月的庭审是首次对阿拉巴马州氮气缺氧处决程序的合宪性进行审议，在听取了专家和普通证人的证词后，法院认定通过氮气气体被处决的囚犯，在窒息发生前至少1至3分钟内可能会经历“严重的空气饥饿及相应的情绪困扰、焦虑、生理应激和身体不适”。
“换句话说，存在严重的实质性伤害风险。这种风险并非臆测、推测或存疑的，”裁决书中写道。“数60秒或180秒绝非易事，从宪法角度而言，考虑到阿拉巴马州氮气处决程序下会发生的痛苦，这一时间跨度是无法容忍的。”
马克斯的裁决标志着死刑挑战的一个转折点。自2024年阿拉巴马州开始使用氮气缺氧法执行死刑以来，该州已多次面临此类诉讼。囚犯及其律师要达到证实相关指控所需的举证标准，向来 notoriously 困难。
2026年6月8日周一，抗议者聚集在阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市国会大厦外，反对即将到来的处决。美联社照片/金·钱德勒
要成功论证一种处决方式违反第八修正案，最高法院要求囚犯证明某一特定处决方法存在“实质性风险”导致其遭受剧痛。他们还必须提出国家可采用的合理替代处决方式。
李提议国家改用行刑队枪决作为氮气缺氧处决的替代方式，马克斯表示该方式“可行、易于实施，且大幅降低了严重伤害的实质性风险”。
阿拉巴马州并未正式授权行刑队枪决，该州的死刑可通过注射死刑、氮气缺氧或在某些情况下使用电刑执行。但马克斯称，该州“未能阐明拒绝采用该替代方式的合法刑罚学理由”。
根据法庭文件，阿拉巴马州总检察长史蒂夫·马歇尔的办公室计划对马克斯的裁决提起上诉。尽管批评人士对氮气处决程序表示担忧，但该州始终否认该方法会造成残忍或不寻常的痛苦。
李将成为美国第九名通过氮气缺氧法被处决的囚犯，也是阿拉巴马州的第八名。路易斯安那州也使用该方式执行过一例死刑。
阿拉巴马州氮气处决程序的合宪性可能将提交至美国最高法院，而最高法院从未认定任何一种死刑执行方式违宪。
Alabama’s nitrogen gas executions constitute cruel and unusual punishment, judge rules
June 10, 2026 / 9:41 AM EDT / CBS News
By Emily Mae Czachor News Editor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
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A federal judge has banned Alabama from executing a death row inmate by nitrogen hypoxia, reversing a previous opinion and concluding that the controversial and relatively new execution method is unconstitutionally cruel.
The ruling, issued Tuesday, permanently prevents the state from putting Jeffrey Lee, 49, to death using nitrogen gas.
Lee was scheduled to die by nitrogen hypoxia — where a condemned inmate is forced to breathe pure nitrogen through a gas mask until they suffocate from the lack of oxygen — on Thursday. He has been incarcerated on Alabama’s death row for more than two decades, after being convicted of a 1998 double murder.
Prosecutors said he shot and killed Jimmy Ellis, a store owner, and Elaine Thompson, an employee, while attempting to rob the establishment, court filings show.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Emily Marks said Alabama’s nitrogen gas protocol violates inmates’ rights under the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. It followed an appeals court ruling Monday that reversed an earlier decision from Marks, in which she found the method was constitutional.
“Lee has shown by a preponderance of evidence that the Protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” Marks wrote Tuesday, referencing the appeals court’s Monday opinion.
After hearing testimony from experts and lay witnesses during an April bench trial that was the first to weigh the constitutionality of Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol, the court found inmates executed by nitrogen gas likely experience “severe air hunger and corresponding emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort” for at least one to three minutes before asphyxiation occurs.
“There is, in other words, a substantial risk of serious harm. The risk is not conjectural, speculative, or doubtful,” their opinion read. “Counting to 60 or 180 seconds is not a quick exercise, and constitutionally speaking, that timeframe is intolerable given the suffering that would take place under Alabama’s nitrogen protocol.”
Marks’ ruling marked a turning point for capital punishment challenges, which have been brought repeatedly in Alabama since it began carrying out executions by nitrogen hypoxia in 2024. It is notoriously difficult for inmates and their attorneys to meet the burden of proof required to substantiate them.
Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution. AP Photo/Kim Chandler
To successfully argue an execution method violates the Eighth Amendment, the Supreme Court has required inmates demonstrate how one particular method poses “a substantial risk” of causing them severe pain. They are also required to offer a reasonable alternative method by which the state could execute them instead.
Lee has proposed the state execute him using a firing squad as an alternative to nitrogen hypoxia, which Marks said “is feasible, readily implemented, and significantly reduces the substantial risk of serious harm.”
Execution by firing squad is not technically authorized in Alabama, where death sentences can be carried out by lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia or, under some circumtances, electrocution. But Marks said the state “failed to articulate a legitimate penological reason” for refusing to adopt it as an alternative.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office plans to appeal Marks’ decision, according to court filings. Despite concerns from critics about its nitrogen gas protocol, the state has maintained its denial that the method causes cruel or unusual suffering.
Lee would have been the ninth person in the U.S. executed by nitrogen hypoxia, and the eighth in Alabama. Louisiana has also carried out one execution this way.
The constitutionality of Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution protocol will likely go before the U.S. Supreme Court next, which has never found any method of capital punishment to be unconstitutional.
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