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Alabama executes inmate with nitrogen gas after past lethal injection attempt failed

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  2 weeks ago  •  32 comments

By:   Erik Ortiz and Abigail Brooks

Alabama executes inmate with nitrogen gas after past lethal injection attempt failed
Alabama executed a condemned man Thursday using nitrogen gas in only the second instance in the United States of the method's use, which drew criticism from human rights groups.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


Alabama executed a condemned man Thursday using nitrogen gas in only the second instance in the United States of the method's use, which drew criticism from human rights groups.

Alan Eugene Miller, a former delivery driver who was convicted in 2000 for a workplace shooting spree, was executed in the state prison in Atmore, the governor's office said.

Prison staff members put Miller, 59, to death via nitrogen hypoxia, in which a person breathes only nitrogen through a mask apparatus and is deprived of oxygen. It was also the second time Alabama moved to execute him after an execution squad struggled to do so two years ago by lethal injection.

Curtains to the death chamber were opened at 6:12 p.m. Miller said in a final statement that "I didn't do anything to be in here" and "I didn't do anything to be on death row," reported AL.com. Gas then appeared to flow into his mask at 6:16 p.m., media witnesses said.

AL.com reported that his fingers moved slightly when his spiritual adviser came to his side. Miller then pulled against his restraints, shaking and trembling for about two minutes, and periodically gasped for about six minutes, The Associated Press reported.

He was declared dead at 6:38 p.m., the state said.

His death caps a particularly busy period of executions nationwide with five occurring over the past seven days. They included Oklahoma carrying out an execution Thursday morning, South Carolina executing someone last week for the first time in 13 years and a Missouri man executed Tuesday who maintained his innocence in a case that drew national attention.

"Just as Alan Miller cowardly fled after he maliciously committed three calculated murders in 1999, he has attempted to escape justice for two decades," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. "Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the execution method elected by the inmate. His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil."

Alabama in January became the first state to execute a prisoner using nitrogen; eyewitnesses reported the inmate, Kenneth Smith, 58, remained conscious for several minutes and violently thrashed and heaved while strapped to a gurney.

State Attorney General Steve Marshall has argued in court filings that the method is "swift, painless and humane."

In a statement following Miller's execution, Marshall accused political activists, out-of-state lawyers and the media of perpetrating a "misinformation campaign," and said the procedure went "as expected and without incident."

Miller initially sought to challenge the use of nitrogen. He filed a federal lawsuit in March seeking to halt his execution, citing the state's past execution failures and concerns that the method of nitrogen hypoxia would add pain and prolong death.

But Miller had opted for Alabama to use nitrogen, the state's alternative to lethal injection approved in 2018, after his execution in September 2022 was called off when staff members were unable to access a vein for more than an hour — a process Miller described as "excruciating" as two men punctured him several times in his arms and a foot. In his lawsuit, Miller said his weight, 350 pounds, has made securing an IV line "challenging."

The state agreed it would not try to execute Miller for a second time using lethal injection.

In July, Alabama officials posted unredacted documents related to Miller's suit in the federal courts' electronic filing system, shedding new light on the case before some of them were sealed.

The records, which were reviewed by NBC News, included a deposition in which Miller expressed concern that the execution team would have trouble securing a mask over his face to breathe in the nitrogen gas.

"Are these people that are going to fit [the mask], what's their training?" Miller said.

"I've got a big old head," he added. "Nothing else fits my head."

Miller had claimed the Alabama Department of Corrections refused to check whether the mask would fit him before the execution, but in his deposition, he declined an offer to have it fit-tested before the procedure.

"I think this is psychological terror right here," Miller said in his deposition.

However, the attorney general's office announced last month that Miller had agreed to settle his suit. The terms remain confidential.

"The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane," Marshall said in a previous statement.

Miller's lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment.

With apparently no more legal barriers or plans by his legal team for a last-minute appeal, his execution went on as scheduled.

Miller does not contest that he was responsible for the 1999 shooting rampage south of Birmingham. Prosecutors said he fatally shot two co-workers, Lee Holdbrooks and Christopher Scott Yancy, and then went to a previous place of employment, where he confronted a former colleague, Terry Lee Jarvis, and killed him.

Testimony at his trial claimed that Miller was upset about "people starting rumors on me," according to court documents. In attempting to appeal his case following his conviction, Miller said he lacked the necessary intent to commit murder because he suffered from mental instability.

The use of nitrogen has raised concerns from human rights groups as states have looked for viable alternatives to lethal injection, a method that has become increasingly difficult to use because of a shortage of the necessary drugs.

If nitrogen, a naturally occurring, colorless and odorless gas, is not mixed with enough oxygen, it can cause physical side effects, such as impaired respiration, vomiting and death.

During an execution, medical experts say, a small amount of oxygen's getting into an inmate's mask as the inmate breathes nitrogen could lead to slow asphyxiation and prolong the time it would take to die.

The state has denied Smith's heaving was due to oxygen's leaking into the mask and argued that he held his breath, which hindered his becoming unconscious sooner.

Maya Foa, the U.S. director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights nonprofit group, said that the use of gas is akin to "human experimentation" and that studies indicate waning support for capital punishment among Americans.

"Whether by lethal injection or nitrogen suffocation, the myth of the 'humane execution' is a lie fewer and fewer people believe," Foa said in a statement.


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devangelical
Professor Principal
1  devangelical    2 weeks ago

the last request of wearing his maga hat during the execution was denied ...

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2  Trout Giggles    2 weeks ago

Suffocation is neither swift, painless or humane.

Put a plastic bad over your head and tell me if it's painless

 
 
 
Ozzwald
Professor Quiet
2.1  Ozzwald  replied to  Trout Giggles @2    2 weeks ago
Put a plastic bad over your head and tell me if it's painless

Supposedly nitrogen does not trigger the gasping and such that normal strangulation does.  You think you are simply breathing until you fall asleep/unconscious. 

It doesn't matter who he is or what he did, if something as extreme as the death penalty is applied it should be done in a merciful manner, painless.  If nitrogen does not do that, something else should be done.  There are enough drugs and chemicals out there that would cause immediate and painless death.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Ozzwald @2.1    2 weeks ago

A plastic bag over your head causes suffocation, not strangulation. Once you've used up all the O2 in the bag you are left with CO2 which is a simple asphyxiate. Not unlike nitrogen would be thru a mask

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
2.1.2  arkpdx  replied to  Ozzwald @2.1    2 weeks ago
applied it should be done in a merciful manner, painless. 

Why? The prisoner did not consider the pain and suffering of their victim. 

 
 
 
Ozzwald
Professor Quiet
2.1.3  Ozzwald  replied to  arkpdx @2.1.2    one week ago
The prisoner did not consider the pain and suffering of their victim.

This is capital PUNSHIMENT not capital REVENGE.  It is not the government's job to show it can be as bad, or worse, than the worst of us.

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
2.2  arkpdx  replied to  Trout Giggles @2    2 weeks ago

So? Neither is shooting your co-workers. Did he care how much pain and suffering or how quickly his victims died? His death should have been slow and painful. The execution also took place about 20 years too late. 

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
3  Ed-NavDoc    2 weeks ago

Maybe states need to go back to execution by firing squad. A lot cheaper and a lot quicker.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @3    2 weeks ago

My personal favorite is the guillotine followed by burning at the stake

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
3.1.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Trout Giggles @3.1    2 weeks ago

Yep, that would definitely be effective! 😁

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
3.1.2  Freefaller  replied to  Trout Giggles @3.1    2 weeks ago
My personal favorite is the guillotine

Mine was strapped across the front of a cannon which is then fired.  The French came up with some really good executions

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
3.2  Freefaller  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @3    2 weeks ago
Maybe states need to go back to execution by firing squad. A lot cheaper and a lot quicker.

That's got my vote

 
 
 
shona1
Professor Quiet
3.3  shona1  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @3    2 weeks ago

Morning.. would have thought that was the first option over there..

But seems people are rather squeamish when mentioning firing squads..

Works very well in other countries..

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.3.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  shona1 @3.3    2 weeks ago

Too much blood

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
4  Greg Jones    2 weeks ago

Hanging is pretty quick. Don't know why they just can't use common anesthetics. The lights go in an instant.

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
4.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Greg Jones @4    2 weeks ago

As long as the knot on the noose is properly placed on the side of the neck it does.

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
5  charger 383    2 weeks ago

public hanging at site of crime for shooting up a school or event

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
5.1  Tessylo  replied to  charger 383 @5    2 weeks ago

No.  I don't think so.  Sounds too much like the lynchings of African Americans where people would go and have a picnic,

Not a good idea.

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Expert
5.2  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  charger 383 @5    2 weeks ago

And the rope is reusable and cheap to replace.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
5.3  devangelical  replied to  charger 383 @5    2 weeks ago

naked and waist deep in lake piranha ...

a forced high dive into the alligator farm pond ...

giving the big cats some exercise and dinner in their enclosures at the zoo ...

open a few veins and then suspend the condemned shoulder deep in shark infested water ...

handcuffed to the steering wheel or in the trunk of one of these ...

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
5.3.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  devangelical @5.3    2 weeks ago

How anout staked out buck naked in the desert on a bed of fire ants at high noon with honey  poured on them. And let's not forget the wet rawhide leather band around the neck.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
5.3.2  devangelical  replied to  Ed-NavDoc @5.3.1    2 weeks ago

painfull, but not fast enough for PPV broadcast ...

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
5.3.3  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  devangelical @5.3.2    2 weeks ago

Agreed.

 
 
 
Mark in Wyoming
Professor Silent
6  Mark in Wyoming     2 weeks ago

i think one method that may start to being looked into is that sarco pod used in assisted suicides , instead of the control being in the hands of the individual , it will be controlled outside the pod in execution cases .

The reasoning for my thinking , no drugs  or gas or any other instrument that can be boycotted except the vacuum chamber pod .

 
 
 
Robert in Ohio
Professor Guide
8  Robert in Ohio    2 weeks ago

Hanging, Electrocution, Guillotine, Firing Squad, Gas Chamber

Perhaps the condemned should choose the method from a list

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
8.1  devangelical  replied to  Robert in Ohio @8    2 weeks ago

nah, making them spin the wheel of grisly death with a number of options would be more of a murder deterrent ...

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
9  TᵢG    2 weeks ago

Execution is not supposed to be torture.

Why not simply knock out the convict with anesthesia and then inject a compound to stop his heart?

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
9.1  devangelical  replied to  TᵢG @9    2 weeks ago

how about knocking them out and then having them wake up in an unpleasant place they won't be leaving alive ...

 
 
 
arkpdx
Professor Quiet
10  arkpdx    2 weeks ago

How want we find a way to induce permanent Locked In Syndrome and let the murders spend the rest of their lives being conscious but unable to move and surround them with pictures and videos of their victims and crime scene. Let them think and relive their crime. 

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
10.1  Freefaller  replied to  arkpdx @10    2 weeks ago

Totally possible today with any number of paralitics but isn''t the death penalty so doesn't qualify

 
 
 
MrFrost
Professor Guide
11  MrFrost    2 weeks ago

People every day OD on any number of illegal drugs....daily.... $100.00 heroin,,,game over. 

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
11.1  devangelical  replied to  MrFrost @11    2 weeks ago

there's an idea, probably enough fentanyl in LE evidence lockers to take out most of the US population ...

 
 

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