ATMOORE, Ala. (AP) – Alabama on Thursday questioned the humanity of using nitrogen gas to execute a man convicted of killing three people in a series of workplace shootings. This is the second time the controversial method has been used in the country.
Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at a prison in southern Alabama at 6:38 p.m. local time. He trembled and trembled on the stretcher for about two minutes, occasionally pulling himself into his restraints. This was followed by periodic gasping for breath for approximately 6 minutes.
Mr. Miller was convicted in 1999 of killing Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancey, and Terry Jarvis, and the state had previously charged Mr. Miller with lethal injection in 2022. They were attempting to execute him.
“I didn't do anything to be here,” Miller said in her final words, which were sometimes muffled by the mask that covered her face from forehead to chin.
Miller is one of five inmates scheduled to be put to death within a week, an unusually high number that bucks a long-standing trend of declining executions in the United States.
“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the method of execution chosen by the inmates,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement. “His actions were not acts of madness, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I hope they can find solace years later. I'm praying.”
The execution was the second time Alabama used the new method, first used when it put Kenneth Smith to death in January. The method involves placing a gas mask over an inmate's face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from oxygen deprivation. Alabama officials and advocates say Smith suffered unconstitutional levels of pain during the execution after he was strapped to a stretcher, shaking in seizure-like convulsions for more than two minutes, and then gasping for breath for several minutes. There is a debate over whether it is true or not.
Mr. Miller, a delivery truck driver, was sentenced to death for the Aug. 5, 1999, shooting that shocked the suburban city of Pelham, just south of Birmingham, and claimed the lives of three people.
Police said Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises early that morning and shot and killed two co-workers, Holdbrooks, 32, and Yancey, 28. He then drove five miles (8 kilometers) away to Post Airgas, where he used to work, and fired the gun, he said. Jarvis, 39 years old. Trial testimony showed that Miller was paranoid and believed his co-workers were gossiping about him.
“You're spreading rumors about me,” witnesses said Miller said before firing. All three were shot multiple times.
Miller initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but later withdrew his plea. According to court documents, a psychiatrist hired by the defense said Mr. Miller suffered from a mental illness, but his condition was not serious enough to be used as a basis for an insanity defense. After 20 minutes of deliberation, jurors found Miller guilty and voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty.
In 2022, the state canceled a previous attempt on Miller's death row after failing to connect an IV line to the 351-pound (159 kilogram) prisoner. Miller initially challenged the nitrogen gas protocol, but dropped the lawsuit after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the state.
