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Murder’s of Jimmy Ellis & Elaine Thompson

When Lee came back later that day, he didn’t have cash; instead, he was armed with a sawed-off shotgun, and as soon as he got inside, he shot Ellis. He then turned the gun on Elaine Thompson and shot her in the face. He wasn’t done yet and shot Helen King.

Lee tried to steal money from the register, but he was unsuccessful. He left the scene with two associates. Ellis and Thompson died from their wounds, but King survived.

Detectives had surveillance video and quickly zeroed in on Lee. He was busted in Georgia soon after the crime and confessed.

He went to trial and was convicted of capital murder and attempted murder. With a 7 to 5 vote, the jury recommended life imprisonment. Unfortunately for Lee, at that time in Alabama, the Judge had the option to overrule the jury and send Lee to death row, and that is exactly what happened.

One juror later spoke about the Judge’s decision, telling CNN, “That was my first time realizing that I had wasted my time serving on a jury.”

The practice of judicial override was repealed in 2017.

Execution Legalities

According to NBCNews, he was supposed to be executed via Nitrogen Hypoxia on July 11th, 2026. The method involves breathing gas through a mask while being deprived of oxygen.

The day before the execution, the Supreme Court ruled that using Nitrogen gas violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and the execution was called off.

The Attorney General Steve Marshall spoke out, calling the ruling, “a miscarriage of justice.”

Lee beat the system and lived another day, but his victory didn’t last long. On July 30th, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey set a new execution date for September 17th, 2026, DeathPenaltyinfo.org reported. This came after the same judge who prevented the state from using nitrogen gas approved of an execution via lethal injection.

Lee’s lawyer fought the ruling, saying that Lee filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging the state’s execution procedures, and the state agreed in 2018 that they would not execute him by that method. The lawyer also requested a firing squad for his client, which is a method Alabama does not offer. He also emphasized that a jury recommended life, and a judge overrode the verdict and sentenced Lee to death.

Execution

None of the above legal wrangling helped, and according to the MiamiHerald, Lee had 17 visitors and made three phone calls on September 16th. On the 17th, he met with his mother, father, son, friends, and his spiritual advisor, but did not make any calls.

He refused his meals on September 16th and 17th, but was seen drinking water and eating various snacks throughout those days.

According to CBSNews, the execution began at 6 pm. Lee was asked if he had any last words, and he said, “All is well. I just want to say to my family, I love them. To my brothers on life row. I love them.”

The execution went forward from there, with Lee being injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 pm.