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Alabama has executed Alan Eugene Miller, the second inmate known to die by nitrogen gas

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A death row killer doesn't care how they killed victims.  Why should 
anyone care how they get executed? 

Alan Eugene Miller was executed Thursday evening in Alabama, state 
officials said, making him the second inmate known to die by nitrogen 
hypoxia, a controversial method critics say is tantamount to torture.

Miller, 59, who was sentenced to death in 2000 for the 1999 killings of 
three men, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. at a prison in Atmore, Alabama 
Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said at a news 
conference.

Miller shook and trembled on a gurney for about two minutes, with his body 
at times pulling against restraints, according to The Associated Press, 
which had a reporter witness the procedure. The shaking and trembling was 
followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became 
still, the AP reported.

“I didn’t do anything to be in here,” Miller said in his final words, 
which at times were muffled by a mask that covered his face from forehead 
to chin, according to the AP.

Miller was fitted with the mask during the procedure, during which 
nitrogen gas flowed for about 15 minutes, Hamm said. In response to a 
reporter’s question, Hamm confirmed the two minutes of shaking, which he 
said was to be expected.

“There’s going to be involuntary body movements as the body is depleted of 
oxygen. That is nothing we did not expect,” Hamm said at the news 
conference.

“Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol, so it 
went just as we had planned,” Hamm said.

At one point, a corrections officer had to adjust Miller’s mask, Hamm 
confirmed in response to a reporter’s question. “That’s just making sure 
the mask is fitted,” Hamm said.

“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the 
execution method elected by the inmate,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a 
release. “His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three 
families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray that they 
can find comfort all these years later.”

Miller’s execution came after a yearslong chain of events surrounding how 
he would be put to death: He first requested death by nitrogen hypoxia, 
but the state said it wasn’t prepared to use the method, and it then 
attempted to execute him by lethal injection in September 2022. That 
attempt, however, was called off, with state officials saying they 
couldn’t access Miller’s veins before the execution warrant expired.

The state subsequently agreed not to execute Miller using any method other 
than nitrogen hypoxia. But then Alabama executed Kenneth Smith early this 
year by nitrogen hypoxia in what is believed to be the first execution by 
that method. Witnesses said Smith was shaking and writhing on the gurney 
for minutes before dying.

Miller then challenged the state’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol in a federal 
lawsuit, claiming it could cause him undue suffering, thus violating his 
Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The 
suit, however, was settled last month.

The terms of the settlement were confidential, though state Attorney 
General Steve Marshall touted it as proof Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution 
method is constitutional.

“The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia 
system is reliable and humane,” Marshall said in August.

Proponents of the nitrogen hypoxia execution method, which replaces oxygen 
breathed by an inmate with 100% nitrogen, say a person would likely lose 
consciousness shortly into the procedure, making it more humane than other 
execution methods. However, doctors have said that they could not pinpoint 
if or when a person will lose consciousness when exposed to high 
concentrations of nitrogen gas.

CNN has repeatedly reached out to lawyers for Miller for comment on his 
settled lawsuit and execution.

On Thursday in the hours before the execution, Miller had nine visitors 
and had a final meal of hamburger steak, baked potato and French fries, 
the Alabama Department of Corrections said.

The 1999 crime
Miller has been staring down the end of his life for more than two 
decades. He was sentenced to death in 2000 for the 1999 murders of Lee 
Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy, and Terry Lee Jarvis.

Miller had worked with each of the victims and became upset when he 
believed the three “spread rumors about him,” according to a release from 
the Alabama attorney general’s office.

On the morning of August 5, 1999, Miller shot two of the three men at 
Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham, Alabama, according to court documents.

Alabama's execution chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, 
Alabama, in 2002.

“I’m tired of people starting rumors on me,” Miller said, armed with a 
pistol while walking out of his employer’s office, court documents say.

Yancy was shot three times, according to court documents, and was unable 
to move after the first shot, “traveled through his groin and into his 
spine, paralyzing him.”

Holdbrooks was shot six times and tried to crawl down a hallway to escape 
before Miller shot him in the head, “causing him to die in a pool of 
blood,” the documents say.

After killing Holdbrooks and Yancy, Miller headed to his previous 
employer, Post Airgas, where Jarvis worked.

Miller walked in and said, “Hey, I hear you’ve been spreading rumors about 
me.”

Jarvis replied that he had not been spreading rumors about Miller but 
moments later, Miller shot Jarvis “a number of times.”

Miller was later captured on the highway, court documents say, with “a 
Glock pistol with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the ammunition 
magazine.”

A forensic psychiatrist who testified for Miller’s defense determined he 
was mentally ill and suffering a delusional disorder, leading him to 
believe the victims were spreading rumors about him. The psychiatrist 
concluded, however, that Miller’s mental illness didn’t meet the standards 
for an insanity defense in Alabama.

“I feel that it has taken way too long to get here,” Tara Barnes, 
Holdbrooks’ widow told CNN Tuesday.

CNN has attempted to reach family members of Yancy and Jarvis.

What is nitrogen hypoxia?
In September 2022, Alabama officials tried to execute Miller by lethal 
injection, but failed because they could not access his veins within the 
required time limit.

Miller was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection after a US Supreme 
Court ruling vacated a lower court injunction in a long-running dispute 
over whether he would die by that method or nitrogen hypoxia.

Prior to that initial attempt, Miller and his attorneys had fought to 
ensure he would be executed by nitrogen gas, a method he had previously 
chosen but the state was not ready to use.

After the failed attempt, Miller was sent back to death row.

Miller and his attorneys filed their lawsuit challenging the state’s 
nitrogen hypoxia protocol after it was used for the first time in Smith’s 
execution.

Smith was sentenced to death for his role in a 1988 murder for hire and, 
like Miller, had previously survived a failed attempt to execute him by 
lethal injection in 2022.

The process of death by nitrogen gas involves forcing an inmate to inhale 
100% nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to survive. But 
death by nitrogen gas has been criticized as experts have said it could 
lead to excessive pain or even torture.

During Smith’s execution earlier this year, he appeared conscious for 
“several minutes,” and for two minutes after that, he “shook and writhed 
on a gurney,” according to the media witness report.

That was followed by several minutes of deep breathing before his breath 
began slowing “until it was no longer perceptible for media witnesses,” 
the media witness report said.

“Clearly it was not the instant, painless death that they promised,” Dr. 
Jonathan Groner, a professor of surgery at The Ohio State University 
College of Medicine told CNN last week. “There’s a lot of suggestion that 
it wasn’t good, wasn’t pleasant.”

United Nations experts “unequivocally condemned” Smith’s execution and the 
use of nitrogen gas inhalation, saying in a statement it “was nothing 
short of State-sanctioned torture.”

“The use, for the first time in humans and on an experimental basis, of a 
method of execution that has been shown to cause suffering in animals is 
simply outrageous,” the UN experts said.

“The theory is that if you just get rid of all the oxygen, just breathing 
pure nitrogen, you won’t feel that intense pressure, like you’re holding 
your breath, right? It doesn’t really work out that way,” Groner, who’s 
studied capital punishment for more than two decades, said.

While Alabama is the only state that’s put this execution method to the 
test, it’s not the only state that’s adopted the use of the procedure. 
Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized death by nitrogen 
hypoxia, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/us/alan-eugene-miller-alabama-
execution/index.html

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Alabama has executed Alan Eugene Miller, the second inmate known to die by nitrogen gas Phaster Moore <dang-em@hang-em.com> - 2024-09-27 09:30 +0200

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