2026年9月17日 美国东部时间08:40 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
因一名知名猫王普雷斯利模仿者被杀被判有罪的凶手，定于周四晚间在阿拉巴马州以注射死刑方式被处决，三个月前，一名法官叫停了阿拉巴马州使用氮气将其处死的计划，导致他原定的行刑日期被取消。
49岁的杰弗里·李，将于当晚6点开始在阿拉巴马州南部的威廉·C·霍尔曼惩教所被执行注射死刑，他因1998年在达拉斯县乡村地区的一家当铺抢劫期间杀害两人获罪。
阿拉巴马州原本计划于6月11日使用氮气对李执行死刑，这是该州在2024年初首次测试的相对新颖的行刑方式。此后该州以及美国其他州已多次使用该方法，引发了一些人的审视和批评，他们认为人们对该方法了解不足，可能会造成不必要的痛苦。
这张由阿拉巴马州惩教部门于2026年6月11日提供的未注明日期照片显示了杰弗里·李。阿拉巴马州惩教部门 via 美联社 资料图
李的首次行刑被地区法官艾米丽·马克斯的一项前所未有的裁决叫停，法官裁定阿拉巴马州的氮气行刑协议在宪法上过于残忍，违反了李根据第八修正案享有的宪法权利。该裁决禁止阿拉巴马州今后使用该方法对李执行死刑，因此阿拉巴马州总检察长办公室迅速提交文件，申请改用注射死刑为李重新确定行刑日期。
李和他的支持者发起了最后一轮赦免请求，指出本案陪审团曾建议判处无期徒刑，但法官推翻了该建议。李的律师还在法庭上辩称，州政府在法律上不应被允许更换行刑方式。
今年迄今为止，美国各地已有26名囚犯被处决，其中包括一名得克萨斯州男子，他因在邻居家犯下三起谋杀罪被判注射死刑。在其他地区，一名法官于周三叫停了佐治亚州对一名杀害两名房地产经纪人男子的行刑计划。
这起双重谋杀案发生于1998年12月12日，位于塞尔玛以西小镇奥维尔的吉米当铺。店铺店主吉米·埃利斯和店员伊莱恩·汤普森遭枪击身亡。另一名店员装死得以幸存。
这名幸存证人作证称，李进入店铺后要求查看结婚戒指，并表示他先去祖母那里拿钱后再回来。不久后李带着一把短管猎枪返回，开枪击中了埃利斯、汤普森和另一名店员。幸存的店员倒在地板上假装死亡，待李离开店铺后拨打了911。
埃利斯是一名歌手，其嗓音酷似猫王普雷斯利，曾作为猫王模仿者在全国拥有一批粉丝。他以蒙面歌手“奥赖恩”的身份进行表演，并成为2015年纪录片的主角。
李于2000年被判犯有一级谋杀罪和谋杀未遂罪。
李是阿拉巴马州死囚区中约24名尽管陪审团建议判处无期徒刑，但仍被判处死刑的囚犯之一。
判处李一级谋杀罪的陪审团以7票对5票建议判处其终身不得假释，但主审法官推翻了该决议，判处李死刑。
2017年，阿拉巴马州废除了司法推翻条款，不再允许法官在死刑案件中更改陪审团的量刑决定。但该法律不具有追溯力，导致李和其他死囚仍受旧规约束。
支持赦免李的人士周二在阿拉巴马州议会大厦外举行了一场主题为“尊重陪审团决议”的集会。
李的律师已请求美国最高法院暂停行刑，以审议州政府是否可以改用注射死刑。
李于2016年提起诉讼，质疑州政府的注射死刑协议。在阿拉巴马州批准氮气作为行刑方式后，李选择了该方法作为自己 preferred的行刑方式。他于2018年同意撤回针对注射死刑的诉讼，因为州政府同意“如果对他执行死刑，将以氮气缺氧方式执行”。
李的律师辩称，州政府受该协议约束，不得使用注射死刑。他们表示州政府可以修改其氮气行刑协议以符合宪法要求，或者使用枪决方式。
“本请愿书要求本院裁定，尽管州政府此前曾表示将以氮气缺氧方式处决李先生，州政府是否仍可使用注射死刑对其执行死刑，”他的律师在提交给最高法院的文件中写道。
州总检察长办公室请求最高法院允许行刑继续进行，辩称没有任何规定禁止更换为注射死刑。
“逍遥法外的谋杀对相关利益方和法治本身都是一种固有的、持续的伤害。近28年的等待已经太久了，”总检察长办公室的律师写道。
数十年来，注射死刑一直是美国普遍首选的行刑方式，直到药品采购和执行过程中出现问题，包括阿拉巴马州在内的各州开始考虑替代方案。
注射死刑仍是阿拉巴马州的主要行刑方式。但在2024年，该州开始使用氮气气体执行部分死刑，该方法通过呼吸面罩将可呼吸空气替换为氮气，导致囚犯因缺氧死亡。目前阿拉巴马州已有7次行刑使用氮气，路易斯安那州有1次。
After nitrogen execution blocked, convicted killer of famous Elvis impersonator set to die by lethal injection in Alabama
2026-09-17 08:40 EDT / CBS/AP
The convicted killer of a famous Elvis Presley impersonator is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday night in Alabama, three months after his last execution date was canceled by a judge who blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas.
Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to receive an injection beginning at 6 p.m. at south Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility for killing two people during a 1998 pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County.
Alabama originally planned to execute Lee on June 11 using nitrogen gas, a relatively new execution method the state tested for the first time in early 2024. It has been used multiple times since then, within and outside of Alabama, drawing scrutiny and criticism from some who have argued the method is poorly understood and likely causes unnecessary suffering.
This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections on June 11, 2026, shows Jeffery Lee. Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File
Lee’s first execution was blocked by an unprecedented decision by District Judge Emily Marks, who ruled Alabama’s nitrogen gas protocol was unconstitutionally cruel and violated the inmate’s constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. It barred Alabama from ever putting Lee to death using that protocol, so the Alabama attorney general’s office quickly filed paperwork seeking a new execution date when he would be executed by lethal injection instead.
Lee and his supporters have made a final bid to spare him, noting the jury in his case had made a recommendation of life imprisonment, which the judge overrode. His attorneys also argued in court that the state should not be legally allowed to switch execution methods.
Twenty-six inmates have been executed around the U.S. to date this year, including a Texas man given a lethal injection for his conviction in a triple murder at his neighbor’s home. Elsewhere, a judge blocked plans Wednesday by the state of Georgia to execute a man who killed two real estate agents.
The double murder occurred on Dec. 12, 1998, at Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville, a small town west of Selma. Jimmy Ellis, the store’s owner, and Elaine Thompson, a store employee, were shot and killed. Another employee survived by playing dead.
The surviving witness testified that Lee entered the store, asked to see wedding rings and said he would be back after getting money from his grandmother. Lee returned a short time later with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, Thompson and the other employee. The surviving witness fell to the floor, pretending to be dead, and called 911 once Lee left the store.
Ellis, a singer whose voice resembled Elvis Presley, had gained a national following for a time as an Elvis impersonator. He performed as the masked singer “Orion” and was the subject of a 2015 documentary.
Lee was convicted in 2000 of capital murder and attempted murder.
Lee is one of about two dozen people on Alabama’s death row who were sentenced to death despite jury recommendations they receive life sentences.
The jury that convicted Lee of capital murder voted 7-5 to recommend a sentence of life without parole, but the trial judge overrode them and sentenced him to death.
In 2017, Alabama abolished judicial override and stopped allowing judges to change juries’ sentencing decision in capital cases. But the law was not retroactive, leaving Lee and others on death row.
Supporters of Lee’s clemency bid held a rally Tuesday outside the Alabama Capitol under the banner, “HONOR THE JURY.”
Lee’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution to consider if the state may switch to lethal injection.
Lee filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol. After Alabama authorized nitrogen as an execution method, Lee selected it as his preferred method. He agreed to dismiss the lethal injection lawsuit in 2018 because the state agreed that “if he is to be executed, defendants will carry out that execution by nitrogen hypoxia.”
Lee’s lawyers argued the state is bound by the terms of that agreement to not use lethal injection. They said the state could revise its nitrogen protocol to make it constitutional or use a firing squad.
“The petition asks this Court to determine whether the State may execute Mr. Lee by lethal injection notwithstanding its prior representation that it would execute him by nitrogen hypoxia,” his attorney wrote in a filing with the high court.
The state attorney general’s office asked the high court to let the execution proceed, arguing nothing precludes the switch to lethal injection.
“An unpunished murder is an intrinsic and ongoing harm to those interests and to the rule of law. Nearly twenty-eight years is decades too long,” lawyers with the attorney general’s office wrote.
For decades, lethal injection was the generally preferred U.S. execution method until problems procuring and administering the drugs led states, including Alabama, to consider alternatives.
Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method. But in 2024, the state began carrying out some executions using nitrogen gas, which involves replacing breathable air with gas through a respirator mask, causing death from lack of oxygen. Nitrogen has now been used in seven executions in Alabama and one in Louisiana.
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