A federal judge has heard competing testimony over a request to block the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas.

The head of Alabama’s prison system said Wednesday that a protocol for using nitrogen gas to carry out executions should be ready this year.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is seeking a pause in executions and ordering a “top-to-bottom” review of the state’s capital punishment system after an unprecedented third failed lethal injection.

A wax statue of actor John Hamm stands by the bar with a drink at Peter Luger Steakhouse on Friday, Feb, 26, 2021, in New York. The statue, on loan from Madame Tussauds, will help fill out the restaurant during COVID-19 occupancy restrictions. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)NEW YORK – It’s a promotion that could be straight out of the “Mad Men” Don Draper playbook. Other figures on loan from Madame Tussauds include Michael Strahan, Jimmy Fallon, Al Roker and Audrey Hepburn in Holly Golightly of “Breakfast at Tiffany's” mode. After that, they'll return to the recently reopened Madame Tussauds in midtown Manhattan.