The state of Alabama has scheduled a second execution using nitrogen gas, just months after the state became the first to use this previously untested method.
Governor Kay Ivey has set an execution date of September 26 for Alan Eugene Miller, who was found guilty of murdering three men in a workplace shooting back in 1999. The execution date has been set for any time between midnight on September 26 and 6am on September 27, allowing the execution to take place at any point during this 30-hour window, though the prison system typically sets executions for 6pm local time.
Miller survived a lethal injection attempt in 2022, with prison officials calling off that execution just 30 minutes before the state's death warrant expired. The issue came as staff could not get a line into Miller's veins in time for the execution to be carried out, with reports saying they spent two hours trying to establish an IV line.
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This decision comes a week after the Alabama Supreme Court gave the green light for the execution. Earlier this year, Alabama used nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Smith, who convulsed and shook in seizure-like movements for several minutes on the gurney before his death on January 25.
Nitrogen hypoxia executions cause death by forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, thereby depriving them of the oxygen needed to sustain life. With the drugs used in lethal injections becoming increasingly hard to come by, Alabama and other states have been exploring new methods of execution.
Miller is currently involved in a federal lawsuit challenging the execution method as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, citing witness accounts of Smith's death. In a lawsuit, the lawyers stated: "Rather than address these failures, the State of Alabama has attempted to maintain secrecy and avoid public scrutiny, in part by misrepresenting what happened in this botched execution."
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It is expected that his legal team will request a federal judge to halt the execution. Attorney General Steve Marshall insisted that Smith's execution was "textbook" and announced that the state plans to implement more death sentences using nitrogen gas.
State attorneys said that Miller has been on death row since 2000 and it's time for his sentence to be executed. The Reverand Jeff Hood, Smith's spiritual adviser who witnessed the nitrogen execution, described the decision to proceed with a second nitrogen execution as "evil is an understatement".
He said: "I saw every horrific second. The politicians that are pushing this execution the hardest weren't even there. This is moral lunacy, not educated leadership."
Miller, a delivery truck driver, was found guilty of murdering Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy in workplace shootings in Birmingham, Alabama. He was convicted of capital murder for their deaths after he shot them dead, believing they were spreading rumours about him at work.