Alabama has executed Alan Eugene Miller, the second inmate known to die by nitrogen gas

[Pelican Press 0]

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Alabama has ********* Alan Eugene Miller, the second inmate known to **** by nitrogen gas

Alan Eugene Miller was ********* Thursday evening in Alabama, state officials said, making him the second inmate known to **** by

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, a controversial method critics say is tantamount to ********.

Miller, 59, who was sentenced to ****** in 2000 for the 1999 killings of three men, was pronounced ***** at 6:38 p.m. at a prison in Atmore, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said at a news conference.

Miller shook and trembled on a gurney for about two minutes, with his body at times pulling against restraints,

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, which had a reporter witness the procedure. The shaking and trembling was followed by about six minutes of periodic gasping breaths, the AP reported.

“I didn’t do anything to be in here,” Miller said in his final words, which at times were muffled by a mask that covered his face from forehead to *****, according to the AP.

Miller was fitted with the mask during the procedure, during which nitrogen gas flowed for about 15 minutes, Hamm said. In response to a reporter’s question, Hamm confirmed the two minutes of shaking, which he said was to be expected.

“There’s going to be involuntary body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen. That is nothing we did not expect,” Hamm said at the news conference.

“Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol, so it went just as we had planned,” Hamm said.

At one point, a corrections officer had to adjust Miller’s mask, Hamm confirmed in response to a reporter’s question. “That’s just making sure the mask is fitted,” Hamm said.

“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the ********** method elected by the inmate,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a release. “His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous *******, and I pray that they can find comfort all these years later.”

Miller’s ********** came after a yearslong chain of events surrounding how he would be put to ******: He first

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****** by nitrogen hypoxia, but the state said it wasn’t prepared to use the method, and it then attempted to ******** him by lethal injection in September 2022. That attempt, however, was

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, with state officials saying they couldn’t access Miller’s veins before the ********** warrant expired.

The state subsequently agreed not to ******** Miller using any method other than nitrogen hypoxia. But then Alabama *********

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early this year by nitrogen hypoxia in what is believed to be the first ********** by that method. Witnesses said Smith was shaking and writhing on the gurney for minutes before dying.

Miller then

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the state’s

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protocol in a federal lawsuit, claiming it could cause him undue suffering, thus violating his Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The suit, however, was

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 last month.

The terms of the settlement were confidential, though state Attorney General Steve Marshall touted it as proof Alabama’s nitrogen gas ********** method is constitutional.

“The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane,” Marshall

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in August.

Proponents of the nitrogen hypoxia ********** method, which replaces oxygen breathed by an inmate with 100% nitrogen,

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a person would likely lose consciousness shortly into the procedure, making it more humane than other ********** methods. However, doctors have said that they could not pinpoint if or when a person will lose consciousness when exposed to high concentrations of nitrogen gas.

CNN has repeatedly reached out to lawyers for Miller for comment on his settled lawsuit and **********.

On Thursday in the hours before the **********, Miller had nine visitors and had a final meal of hamburger steak, baked potato and French fries, the Alabama Department of Corrections said.

The 1999 ******

Miller has been staring down the end of his life for more than two decades. He was sentenced to ****** in 2000 for the 1999 murders of Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy, and Terry Lee Jarvis.

Miller had worked with each of the victims and became upset when he believed the three “spread rumors about him,”

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to a release from the Alabama attorney general’s office.

On the morning of August 5, 1999, Miller shot two of the three men at Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham, Alabama,

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to court documents.

“I’m tired of people starting rumors on me,” Miller said, armed with a ******* while walking out of his employer’s office,

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.

Yancy was shot three times,

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, and was unable to move after the first shot, “traveled through his groin and into his spine, paralyzing him.”

Holdbrooks was shot six times and tried to crawl down a hallway to escape before Miller shot him in the head, “causing him to **** in a pool of blood,” the documents say.

After ******** Holdbrooks and Yancy, Miller headed to his previous employer, Post Airgas, where Jarvis worked.

Miller walked in and said, “Hey, I hear you’ve been spreading rumors about me.”

Jarvis replied that he had not been spreading rumors about Miller but moments later, Miller shot Jarvis “a number of times.”

Miller was later captured on the highway, court documents say,

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“a Glock ******* with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the ammunition magazine.”

A forensic psychiatrist

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for Miller’s defense determined he was mentally ill and suffering a delusional disorder, leading him to believe the victims were spreading rumors about him. The psychiatrist concluded, however, that Miller’s mental illness didn’t meet the standards for an insanity defense in Alabama.

“I feel that it has taken way too long to get here,” Tara Barnes, Holdbrooks’ widow told CNN Tuesday.

CNN has attempted to reach family members of Yancy and Jarvis.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Alan Eugene Miller is seen in an undated photo. – Alabama Department of Corrections

What is nitrogen hypoxia?

In September 2022, Alabama officials tried to ******** Miller by lethal injection, but

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because they could not access his veins within the required time limit.

Miller was

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to be ********* by lethal injection after a US Supreme Court ruling vacated a lower court injunction in a long-running dispute over whether he would **** by that method or nitrogen hypoxia.

Prior to that 

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, Miller and his attorneys had fought to ensure 

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, a method he had previously chosen but the state was not ready to use.

After the ******* attempt, Miller was sent back to ****** row.

Miller and his attorneys filed their lawsuit challenging the state’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol after it was used for the first time in

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**********.

Smith

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for his role in a 1988 ******* for hire and, like Miller, had previously survived a ******* attempt to ******** him by lethal injection in 2022.

The process of ****** by nitrogen gas involves forcing an inmate to inhale 100% nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to survive. But ****** by nitrogen gas has been criticized as experts have said it could lead to excessive pain or even ********.

During Smith’s

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earlier this year, he appeared conscious for “several minutes,” and for two minutes after that, he “shook and writhed on a gurney,” according to the media witness report.

That was followed by several minutes of deep breathing before his breath began slowing “until it was no longer perceptible for media witnesses,” the media witness report said.

“Clearly it was not the instant, painless ****** that they promised,” Dr. Jonathan Groner, a professor of surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine told CNN last week. “There’s a lot of suggestion that it wasn’t good, wasn’t pleasant.”

******* Nations experts “unequivocally condemned” Smith’s ********** and the use of nitrogen gas inhalation, saying in a

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it “was nothing short of State-sanctioned ********.”

“The use, for the first time in humans and on an experimental basis, of a method of ********** that has been shown to cause suffering in animals is simply outrageous,” the UN experts said.

“The theory is that if you just get rid of all the oxygen, just breathing pure nitrogen, you won’t feel that intense pressure, like you’re holding your breath, right? It doesn’t really work out that way,” Groner, who’s studied capital punishment for more than two decades, said.

While Alabama is the only state that’s put this ********** method to the test, it’s not the only state that’s adopted the use of the procedure. Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized ****** by nitrogen hypoxia,

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to the ****** Penalty Information Center.

CNN’s Dakin Andone and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report 

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#Alabama #********* #Alan #Eugene #Miller #inmate #**** #nitrogen #gas

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