MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US State of Alabama carries out second execution with nitrogen gas

Alabama had tried to execute Miller in 2022 by lethal injection but his veins could not be reached in time

The US state of Alabama Thursday used for the second time the controversial nitrogen gas asphyxiation method to put down death row inmate Alan Eugene Miller for the 1999 killing of three co workers. While supporters of this mechanism claim that the person being executed loses consciousness quickly, which makes it more humane than other execution methods, others contend that nitrogen could lead to excessive pain and torture and that there is no way of knowing with certainty at which point a person loses consciousness when exposed to 100% nitrogen. Miller was pronounced dead at 6.38 pm local time at Atmore prison.

 According to an AP witness, Miller, aged 59, “shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. This was followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became still.”

“I didn't do anything to be here,” were Miller's last words which at times could not be heard well because of the gas mask covering his face from forehead to chin to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas. He was convicted of killing Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis in 1999. During the investigation, it was established that Miller believed his three coworkers were spreading rumors about his sexuality.

“Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol,” an official from the Alabama Department of Corrections told reporters after Thursday's procedure. Miller's involuntary movements on the gurney were “nothing we did not expect,” he also explained.

Alabama had already sought to execute him in 2022 by lethal injection but the attempt was called off after officials said they could not access his veins in time. The state eventually agreed to execute him by nitrogen hypoxia, but Miller challenged the method after it was used in January on Kenneth Eugene Smith, who shook visibly on the gurney for minutes before dying. Miller's legal team contended that nitrogen hypoxia would cause him undue suffering.

”Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the inmate's chosen method of execution,“ Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement. ”His actions were not acts of insanity, but of pure evil. His heinous crimes forever changed three families, and I pray they can find comfort all these years later.“

”After two decades, Alan Miller was finally put to death for a depraved murder spree that cruelly took the lives of three innocent men,“ said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. ”I ask the people of Alabama to join me in praying for the families and friends of the victims, that they might now find peace and closure.“

A jury found Miller guilty of Holdbrooks six times, Jarvis five times and Yancy three times. He first shot and killed Holdbrooks and Yancy, his coworkers at Ferguson Enterprises, before driving his truck to Post Airgas, a welding supply store, to murder Jarvis. Police arrested Miller in his car on the same day of the murders. A Glock pistol was lying on the driver's seat and an empty ammunition magazine on the passenger seat. Although he was deemed ”mentally ill“ by a forensic psychiatrist during his sentencing hearing, it was not enough to halt his execution because his condition did not meet the level of mania necessary to establish an insanity defense under Alabama law.

”Miller suffered from a delusional disorder that substantially impaired his rational ability,“ according to the court document. ”This delusional disorder − coupled with Miller's history as a loner − resulted in Miller's believing the people he worked with talked about him and that they had spread rumors about him. Miller believed that Terry Jarvis had told other employees at Post Airgas that Miller was a homosexual.”

Miller was the fourth inmate executed in Alabama this year, the 18th nationwide in 2024 and the 1,600th of all time in the U.S. His last meal was of a hamburger steak, baked potato and French fries. He was also among five men being executed in the country in just a six-day period. Other executions were carried out in South Carolina, Missouri, and Texas.