Alabama court authorizes second nitrogen execution
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama has authorized the execution of a second inmate with nitrogen gas, months after the state became the first to put someone to death with the previously untested method.
The Alabama Supreme Court on Thursday granted the attorney general’s request for an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, who survived a lethal injection attempt in 2022. The state’s governor will set the exact date of the execution of Miller, who was convicted of killing three men in a workplace shooting in 1999.
The Alabama attorney general’s office said in a February court filing seeking Miller’s execution date that the execution would be carried out with nitrogen gas.
Alabama used nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Smith in January. Smith shook and convulsed with seizure-like movements for several minutes on the death chamber gurney when he was put to death on January 25.
Miller has a pending federal lawsuit challenging the method of execution as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, citing witness accounts of Smith’s death.
“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,” the lawyers wrote. His lawyers are expected to ask a federal judge to block the execution.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall insisted the execution was “textbook” and said the state will seek to carry out more death sentences using nitrogen gas.
“The state of Alabama is prepared to carry out the execution of Miller’s sentence through nitrogen hypoxia,” the attorney general’s office wrote in the February motion seeking permission for the execution. State attorneys added that Miller has been on death row since 2000 and it is time to carry out his sentence.
An attorney listed for Miller did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Marshall confirmed that the court had approved the execution, but did not immediately comment.
Miller, a truck driver, was convicted of killing Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy in a workplace shooting.
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An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that a spokesperson for the attorney general confirmed that the court had set the execution date. The court approved the execution.