MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal appeals court declined Tuesday to halt the upcoming execution of an Alabama man convicted in the death of an elderly couple during a 2004 robbery.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied two separate requests for a stay of execution of Jamie Ray Mills, 50. Mills will be put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening in Alabama.
Mills was convicted of capital murder for the 2004 killings of Floyd and Vera Hill in Guin, a small town about 82 miles (132 kilometers) northwest of Birmingham. Prosecutors said Mills and his wife went to the couple’s home, where he used a ball hammer, a tire tool and a machete to beat and stab the couple before stealing $140 and prescription drugs.
The three-judge panel rejected stay requests in two different cases. One case argued that newly discovered evidence showed prosecutors concealed a plea deal with Mills’ wife to get her to testify against her husband. The other aspects of the state’s lethal injection protocol challenged.
Angie Setzer, a senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative, which represents Mills, said they are disappointed in the decisions and will appeal. Setzer said the cases show the state’s deception and concealment, both during Mr. Mills’ trial and in relation to executions.
Lawyers with the initiative asked a federal judge in April to reopen the case, arguing that newly discovered evidence showed prosecutors lied about having a plea deal with Mills’ wife, who gave key testimony against him. JoAnn Mills’ attorney signed an affidavit saying the prosecutor agreed that “he would not pursue the principal and would agree to a plea to murder” if she testified at her husband’s trial. After testifying, JoAnn Mills pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
The state claims there was no plea deal and has submitted its own affidavits from the prosecutor and his investigator.
U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler ruled that Mill’s argument was raised too late and did not prove the conviction was the result of fraud or misconduct.
Mills’ attorneys asked for a “certificate of competency” to get the 11th Circuit to hear the issue. Chief Justice William Pryor wrote in his ruling on behalf of the state that they did not meet the required statutory threshold because “no reasonable legal scholar could conclude that the district court abused its discretion.” The Court of Appeal subsequently rejected the request for suspension.
Circuit Judge Nancy G. Abudu agreed with the decision, but wrote that she was concerned about the rigid interpretation of rules in death penalty cases that prevented further investigation of the issue.
“Unfortunately, even when a petitioner’s life is at stake, our case law does not provide sufficient procedural and substantive due process protections,” Abudu wrote.
Floyd Hill, 87, died of blunt and sharp wounds to his head and neck, and Vera Hill, 72, died of complications from head trauma about 12 weeks after the crime, the attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing. A jury voted 11-1 to recommend the death penalty for Jamie Mills, which a judge imposed.