XPost: alabama.politics, alt.society.liberalism, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: dang-em@hang-em.com   
      
   A death row killer doesn't care how they killed victims.  Why should   
   anyone care how they get executed?   
      
   Alan Eugene Miller was executed Thursday evening in Alabama, state   
   officials said, making him the second inmate known to die by nitrogen   
   hypoxia, a controversial method critics say is tantamount to torture.   
      
   Miller, 59, who was sentenced to death in 2000 for the 1999 killings of   
   three men, was pronounced dead 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, according to The Associated Press,   
   which had a reporter witness the procedure. The shaking and trembling was   
   followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became   
   still, 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 chin, 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   
   execution 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 crimes, and I pray that they   
   can find comfort all these years later.”   
      
   Miller’s execution came after a yearslong chain of events surrounding how   
   he would be put to death: He first requested death by nitrogen hypoxia,   
   but the state said it wasn’t prepared to use the method, and it then   
   attempted to execute him by lethal injection in September 2022. That   
   attempt, however, was called off, with state officials saying they   
   couldn’t access Miller’s veins before the execution warrant expired.   
      
   The state subsequently agreed not to execute Miller using any method other   
   than nitrogen hypoxia. But then Alabama executed Kenneth Smith early this   
   year by nitrogen hypoxia in what is believed to be the first execution by   
   that method. Witnesses said Smith was shaking and writhing on the gurney   
   for minutes before dying.   
      
   Miller then challenged the state’s nitrogen hypoxia 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 settled last month.   
      
   The terms of the settlement were confidential, though state Attorney   
   General Steve Marshall touted it as proof Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution   
   method is constitutional.   
      
   “The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia   
   system is reliable and humane,” Marshall said in August.   
      
   Proponents of the nitrogen hypoxia execution method, which replaces oxygen   
   breathed by an inmate with 100% nitrogen, say a person would likely lose   
   consciousness shortly into the procedure, making it more humane than other   
   execution 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 execution.   
      
   On Thursday in the hours before the execution, 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 crime   
   Miller has been staring down the end of his life for more than two   
   decades. He was sentenced to death 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,” according 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, according to court documents.   
      
   Alabama's execution chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore,   
   Alabama, in 2002.   
      
   “I’m tired of people starting rumors on me,” Miller said, armed with a   
   pistol while walking out of his employer’s office, court documents say.   
      
   Yancy was shot three times, according to court documents, 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 die in a pool of   
   blood,” the documents say.   
      
   After killing 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, with “a   
   Glock pistol with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the ammunition   
   magazine.”   
      
   A forensic psychiatrist who testified 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.   
      
   What is nitrogen hypoxia?   
   In September 2022, Alabama officials tried to execute Miller by lethal   
   injection, but failed because they could not access his veins within the   
   required time limit.   
      
   Miller was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection after a US Supreme   
   Court ruling vacated a lower court injunction in a long-running dispute   
   over whether he would die by that method or nitrogen hypoxia.   
      
   Prior to that initial attempt, Miller and his attorneys had fought to   
   ensure he would be executed by nitrogen gas, a method he had previously   
   chosen but the state was not ready to use.   
      
   After the failed attempt, Miller was sent back to death row.   
      
   Miller and his attorneys filed their lawsuit challenging the state’s   
   nitrogen hypoxia protocol after it was used for the first time in Smith’s   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)