Alan Eugene Miller: Alabama to execute killer with nitrogen gas after botched attempt with lethal injection

ALABAMA, UNITED STATES: Alabama is planning for the execution of Alan Eugene Miller with nitrogen gas after the state's Supreme Court agreed with the Attorney General's request on Thursday, May 3, 2024.

Miller was found guilty of killing three men -- Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy, and Terry Jarvis, in a shooting at work in 1999. 

He admitted he shot his colleagues as he falsely believed they were spreading rumors about him.

This is not the first time the state has tried to execute Miller. There was an attempt to execute Miller in 2022, but it didn't work. 

Prison personnel had trouble finding a vein for the lethal injection, and it was very painful, per DailyMail.

While an exact date for his execution is yet to be decided, a new method involving nitrogen gas will be employed. However, some are worried as another death row inmate took a long time to die using this method in January.

Alan Eugene Miller’s attorneys filed lawsuit against execution with nitrogen gas

Attorneys representing Alan Eugene Miller, who survived a failed lethal injection in 2022, had filed a lawsuit over the execution. They challenged the execution method and asked a judge to stop any potential execution from happening. 

Miller's lawyers argued that the first nitrogen execution in January was cruel because Kenneth Smith shook and convulsed on the gurney. 

They said using the same method on Miller would be cruel and violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. They also claimed that Alabama wanted to execute Miller to silence him for speaking out about his failed execution attempt. 

The lawyers argued that this violated Miller's rights to free speech and due process. 

The lawyers wrote, "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."

What happened during Alan Miller’s first execution attempt in 2022?

At his first execution in 2022, medical staff tried to inject Miller with a lethal cocktail by poking him with needles for over an hour, but they couldn't find a vein.

At one point, they even placed him vertically on a gurney to improve blood flow. His attorneys mentioned this ordeal in their recent attempt to stop his second execution, which was unsuccessful.

During the first attempt, Miller had to endure more than an hour of needle insertion, and medics even used a cellphone flashlight to help find a vein.

Issues with lethal injections have been a problem for death row inmates across the nation for years. One main issue is that pharmacies are hesitant to produce the drugs needed for lethal injections.