In this August 5, 1999 file photo, officials transport murder suspect Alan Eugene Miller from the Pelham City Jail in Alabama. Miller was given the death penalty after being found guilty of a 1999 workplace massacre. AP/Dave Martin
Montgomery, Alabama — In accordance with the conditions of a settlement agreement signed on Monday, Alabama will not seek another execution date for an inmate whose September execution was stopped due to difficulties installing an intravenous connection. In order to execute Alan Eugene Miller, the state committed to never again employ lethal injection as a means of execution.
Any future attempt to kill Miller will be carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, an Alabama-authorized execution method that has never been utilized to carry out a death sentence in the United States. There is presently no established methodology for the use of nitrogen hypoxia.
Tuesday, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. authorized the settlement deal in a lawsuit filed by Miller to avert another execution attempt by lethal injection. Miller alleged that the state lost documentation indicating that he chose nitrogen hypoxia as his death technique and then tortured him during the unsuccessful execution attempt. Miller’s attorneys referred to him at the time as the “sole live execution survivor in the United States.”
Alan Eugene Miller is shown in an undated image released by the Alabama Department of Corrections. Alabama Department of Corrections via the Associated Press
Miller was supposed to be killed by lethal injection on September 22, but the state was unable to attach an intravenous line to the 351-pound prisoner. Miller reported that when prison workers tried to find a vein in him, they stabbed him with needles for more than an hour and at one point left him dangling vertically while tied to a stretcher.
Since 2018, Alabama has recognized IV access issues during at least four executions. Three of these needed to be stopped.
The execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith was stopped earlier this month when the execution squad attempted for an hour to establish an IV line.
Attorneys for Smith filed a complaint against the prison system last week, alleging that the state violated the U.S. Constitution, several court orders, and its own procedure for lethal injection during the failed execution attempt earlier this month. Smith was “subjected to ever-increasing degrees of agony and suffering” on the night of the attempted execution, according to Smith’s attorneys, who have asked a federal judge to prohibit the state from attempting to kill him again.
Kenneth Eugene Smith Department of Corrections of Alabama
In 2018, Alabama canceled the execution of Doyle Lee Hamm for the same grounds. Although he remained on death row, he achieved a deal with the state that avoided additional execution attempts. Eventually, he died of natural causes.
The three postponed executions were attributed to time restrictions, notably the midnight deadline, by prison officials.
The state executed Joe Nathan James in July, but only after a three-hour delay at least partially due by the same difficulties with getting an IV line.
An undated photograph of Joe Nathan James Jr., who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in 1994. Department of Corrections of Alabama
Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama halted executions last week in order to reassess the protocols. The Republican governor expressed compassion for the families of victims.
Miller was condemned to death after being found guilty of murdering Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks, and Scott Yancy at work in 1999.
As Alabama has not disclosed protocols for utilizing nitrogen hypoxia, and there will be litigation about the humaneness of the method before a state attempts to use it, it is probable that the settlement agreement will preclude another execution attempt in the near future.
According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, seventeen persons have been executed in the United States this year. According to the institute, Alabama has carried out 70 executions since 1976, and there are presently 170 individuals on death row.
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