Another death row killer in nitrogen gas execution despite it being 'agonising'

22 February 2024 , 11:57

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Alan Eugene Miller is facing death by nitrogen gas (Image: Alabama Department of Corrections)

A death row killer is set to be executed with nitrogen gas just one month after the method was labelled "agonising" by officials and witnesses.

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was sentenced after he shot dead Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy, and Terry Jarvis in Birmingham, Alabama, US, in 1999. The ex-truck driver was expected to be executed on September 22, however, officials couldn't find an intravenous line.

Following the delay, the state of Alabama wants to make Miller the second inmate to be executed with nitrogen gas. It comes after death row prisoner Kenneth Smith was named the first to use the controversial method, which witnesses branded "painful" and "disgusting" after he convulsed with seizure-like movements.

Both killers survived previous execution attempts with the lethal injection. On January 25, witnesses recalled how Smith suffered for 22 minutes after the gas first began to flow. One journalist said at the time that it was the "most violent execution" he had ever seen.

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Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed on January 25 (Alabama Department of Correction/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)

Just before his execution began, Smith said: "Tonight, Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. Humanity rose up….I am leaving with love, peace, and light…..I love you. Thank you for supporting me. I love all of you."

His spiritual advisor, Reverend Jeff Hood, recalled how Smith was shaking and kept moving back and forth. "A great evil was unleashed on the state of Alabama tonight,” he said. Even the Supreme Court Justice expressed their concerns, reports The Sun.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who voted against killing Smith with nitrogen gas, warned that the "world is watching" and wrote: "Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching."

However, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall disputed claims and said that using nitrogen gas will become “textbook". The morning after the execution, he said: "As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. It is a proven one."

Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are the only states that have authorised the method. The attorney general has requested Alabama's Supreme Court to set a date for Miller's execution.

Monica Charsley