An Alabama man convicted of killing three men was executed on Thursday, September 26, becoming the second death row inmate in the United States to die via nitrogen hypoxia.
Alan Eugene Miller, a death row inmate since 2000, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. Officials verified Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., roughly 50 miles northeast of Mobile, according to CNN, the Associated Press, and AL.com.
Miller shuddered and twitched on a gurney for eight minutes before becoming motionless, according to the AP.
Miller said his final words before being executed: “I didn’t do anything to be here,” he stated, according to AL.com. He continued, “I done nothing to deserve to be on death row. “I appreciate it.”
Miller was condemned to death after being convicted of the August 1999 workplace shooting deaths of his coworkers Lee Holdbrooks, 32, Christopher Yancy, 28, and Terry Jarvis, 39, in Pelham, Alabama.
Miller was not executed for the first time on Thursday. According to CNN, the state attempted to execute him via lethal injection in 2022. Alabama officials first declined his plea to die by nitrogen hypoxia, claiming they were unprepared to use the now-authorized method. However, the effort to kill Miller via lethal injection was canceled due to issues finding his veins, according to CNN.
According to the Associated Press, the only states that have permitted nitrogen hypoxia for executions are Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. According to the Associated Press, Alabama was the first to use the procedure, which includes pushing pure nitrogen into the inmate’s lungs while shutting off oxygen access.
According to court documents reported by the Montgomery Advertiser, Miller and his counsel eventually reached an agreement with the state, allowing him to die by nitrogen hypoxia rather than lethal injection.
According to PEOPLE, CBS News, and NPR, Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person in the United States to be killed by nitrogen gas earlier this year. In a decision issued in November 2023, the Alabama Supreme Court permitted his execution. The execution was contentious, with Smith’s supporters characterizing the approach as “experimental.”
According to NPR, Alabama officials claim nitrogen hypoxia is “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man,” even though the American Veterinary Medical Association considers the approach “unacceptable” for all mammals save for pigs.
In a statement released following Miller’s death, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the method of execution, claiming that “justice has been served.”
“After two decades, Alan Miller was finally put to death for a depraved murder spree that cruelly took the lives of three innocent men: Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Yancy, and Terry Jarvis,” says Marshall. “I ask the people of Alabama to join me in praying for the families and friends of the victims, that they might now find peace and closure.”