MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is preparing to carry out the nation’s second nitrogen gas execution Thursday, as disagreements persist over whether the new method of killing prisoners is humane.
Alan Eugene Miller, 59, is scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas at a southern Alabama prison. Miller was convicted of killing three men — Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis — in back-to-back workplace shootings in 1999.
In January, Alabama executed Kenneth Smith in the first execution with nitrogen gasThe new execution method involves placing a breathing gas mask over the inmate’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death from lack of oxygen.
Alabama authorities and advocates have questioned whether Smith suffered an unconstitutional level of pain during his execution. He was wracked by seizure-like spasms for more than two minutes as he was strapped to the gurney. That was followed by several minutes of gasping for air.
“Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said last month in announcing a settlement agreement in the lawsuit that allowed Miller’s execution. The state has scheduled a third nitrogen execution for November.
But opponents of the death penalty and advocates for other inmates sentenced to nitrogen execution argue that what happened to Smith shows there are problems, or at least questions, with the new execution method. They say the method should be scrutinized more closely before it is used again.
“The fact that the state has scheduled two more nitrogen executions without publicly acknowledging the failures of the first is troubling. Proceeding with a second nitrogen execution without reassessing the first, and under a veil of secrecy, is not how a transparent government operates,” John Palombi, a lawyer with the Federal Defenders Program who represents another inmate facing a nitrogen execution in November, wrote in an email.
Death penalty opponents filed petitions Wednesday asking Gov. Kay Ivey to stay the execution. one of the five condemned to death scheduled to be executed within a week, an unusually high number of executions that defies all Downward trend for years in the use of the death penalty in the United States
Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted of capital murder in the shootings that left three people dead and shocked the town of Pelham, a suburban city just south of Birmingham.
The workday on Aug. 5, 1999, began normally, one witness said, until Miller showed up armed with a handgun and said he was “tired of people spreading rumors about me.”
Police say that early that morning, Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises and shot and killed two co-workers: Holdbrooks, 32, and Yancy, 28. He then drove five miles to Post Airgas, where he had previously worked, and shot Jarvis, 39.
All three men were shot multiple times. A prosecutor told jurors at the 2000 trial that the men “were not just murdered, they were executed.”
Miller had initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but he later withdrew his plea. A psychiatrist hired by the defense testified that Miller was mentally ill, but he also said Miller’s condition was not severe enough to support an insanity defense, according to court documents.
Jurors convicted Miller after 20 minutes of deliberation and voted to give him the death penalty.
Alabama had had already tried to execute Miller by lethal injection. But the state called off the execution after it was unable to connect an IV to the 350-pound inmate. The state and Miller agreed that any further execution attempts would be done with nitrogen gas.
The state could make minor adjustments to the execution procedures. Miller had initially challenged the nitrogen gas execution plans, citing witness descriptions of what happened to Smith. But he dropped the lawsuit after reaching a settlement with the state last month.
Court documents did not disclose the terms of the agreement, but Miller had suggested several changes to the state’s nitrogen gas protocol, including using medical-grade nitrogen and a sedative beforehand. Will Califf, a spokesman for Marshall’s attorney general, said last month that he could not confirm whether the state had agreed to make changes to execution procedures.
Mara E. Klebaner, an attorney representing Miller, said last month that he had “reached a settlement on favorable terms to protect his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.”
