ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama used nitrogen Thursday to execute a man convicted of killing three people in consecutive workplace shootings, the second time the method that sparked debate over its humanitarian character is used in the country.
Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. local time at a prison in south Alabama. He shook and shook on the gurney for about two minutes, his body occasionally pulling against the restraints. This was followed by about six minutes of periodic heavy breathing.
Miller was convicted of murdering three men – Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis – in 1999 and the state previously attempted to execute him by lethal injection in 2022.
“I didn’t do anything to be here,” Miller said in his final words, sometimes muffled by the mask that covered his face from forehead to chin.
Miller was one of five inmates scheduled to be executed within a week, an unusually high number that defies a years-long trend of declining use of the death penalty in the United States.
“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the inmate’s chosen method of execution,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement. “His actions were not madness, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray they can find comfort all these years later.
This execution was the second to use the new method first used by Alabama in January, when Kenneth Smith was put to death. The method involves placing a breathing gas mask over the inmate’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death from lack of oxygen. Alabama officials and advocates have questioned whether Smith suffered an unconstitutional level of pain during his execution after shaking in seizure-like spasms for more than two minutes while tied to the stretcher, then panting for several minutes.
A delivery truck driver, Miller was convicted of capital murder for the Aug. 5, 1999, shooting that took three lives and shocked the town of Pelham, a suburban town just south of Birmingham.
Police said that early that morning, Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises and shot two co-workers: Holdbrooks, 32, and Yancy, 28. He then drove five miles to Post Airgas, where he had previously worked, and fired. Jarvis, 39 years old. Trial testimony indicated that Miller was paranoid and thought his co-workers were gossiping about him.
“You spread rumors about me,” a witness said before opening fire. All three men were shot multiple times.
Miller initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but later withdrew his plea. A psychiatrist hired by the defense said Miller suffered from a mental illness, but that his condition was not serious enough to provide the basis for an insanity defense, according to court documents. Jurors found Miller guilty after 20 minutes of deliberation and recommended by a vote of 10 to 2 that he receive the death penalty.
In 2022, the state called off Miller’s previous execution attempt after being unable to connect an IV line to the 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate. Miller initially challenged the nitrogen gas protocol but dropped his lawsuit after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the state.
