ATMORE, AL — Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead last Thursday at 6:38 p.m. local time at this south Alabama prison after nitrogen gas was used to execute him, convicted of “killing three people in back-to-back workplace shootings,” according to NPR.
The Associated Press reported the execution to be the “second time the method has generated debate about its humaneness” in the U.S. The first time it was employed was in January, when Kenneth Smith was put to death, NPR reported.
The Associated Press added, “Alabama officials and advocates have argued over whether Smith had suffered an unconstitutional level of pain during his execution after he shook in seizure-like spasms for several minutes, at times rocking the gurney.”
According to the press reports, similarities occurred as Miller “shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints” and had “six minutes of periodic gulping breaths” before his death.
A respirator gas mask is placed over the inmate’s face to “replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas.” However, it was confirmed that it was “not as long or as violent.”
Miller had initially challenged the nitrogen gas protocol but “dropped his lawsuit after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the state,” according to NPR.
“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the execution method elected by the inmate,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. “His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray that they can find comfort all these years later.”
However, according to state officials, the families of the three victims did not witness Miller’s execution nor release a statement for reporters.
In addition, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm declined to answer whether Miller had been given a sedative as requested by Miller, instead referring questions “about the settlement” to Miller’s attorneys.
“I didn’t do anything to be in here,” Miller said in his final words. His words were reported to be muffled by the “blue-rimmed gas mask that covered his face from forehead to chin,” and he also asked his family and friends to “take care” of someone, whose name is unclear.
However, court documents revealed witnesses at Miller’s trial contradicting those words, describing the inmate explicitly “shooting the three men.”
Miller was a delivery truck driver when he allegedly committed the shootings on Aug. 5, 1999,in the suburban city of Pelham, south of Birmingham, said court records.
At trial, police said Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises and fatally shot two co-workers, Holdbrooks and Yancy. Miller then reportedly drove “five miles (8 kilometers) away to Post Airgas, where he had previously worked, and shot Jarvis.” All men were shot multiple times, witnesses testified.
“Miller was paranoid,” NPR stated based on trial testimony, and that he “believed his co-workers had been gossiping about him.” A witness stated that Miller opened fire after saying, “You’ve been spreading rumors about me.”
Miller had “initially pleaded not guilty” by “reason of insanity,” according to court records but later withdrew the plea. While a hired psychiatrist diagnosed Miller to be mentally ill, his condition wasn’t “severe enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense.” NPR reported that jurors convicted him to the death penalty by a vote of 10-2 after “20 minutes of deliberation.”
In 2022, Miller was to be executed by lethal injection, but Alabama called off the attempt after “being unable to connect an IV line to the 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate,” according to the Associated Press.
