Alabama’s new way of carrying out executions by nitrogen hypoxia is under review by a federal court as lawyers for a death row inmate try to establish that it causes unnecessary suffering.

Lawyers for the state are defending the new form of executions, which Alabama has used five times since it became the first state to use the method in January 2024 .

U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks heard testimony from six witnesses for the state on Friday, following 12 witnesses for the plaintiffs on Thursday.

“This is a high-stakes litigation,” Marks said at the start of the proceedings on Friday.

Marks also remarked on the tight timeline faced by the court.

At the end of Friday’s hearing, the judge told lawyers from both sides to file follow-up briefs and responses by Sept. 18.

The plaint

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