Alabama has approved a second use of nitrogen gas for an upcoming execution, following the state’s earlier implementation of this method.
The Alabama Supreme Court has granted the requested execution date, submitted by the state’s attorney general, for Alan Eugene Miller, a convicted murderer who previously survived a failed lethal injection in 2022. The final execution date is pending confirmation by the governor.
The execution will utilize nitrogen gas, similar to the method used in a previous execution in January.
Kenneth Smith’s execution using this method reportedly included extended convulsions.
Miller, currently challenging the constitutionality of this execution method in federal court, argues that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, citing witness accounts of Smith’s execution.
Miller’s legal team accuses Alabama of secrecy and misrepresentation regarding previous executions.
They are expected to seek a federal injunction to halt his impending execution.
Alabama’s Attorney General, Steve Marshall, defends the use of nitrogen gas and intends to carry out more executions with this method, stating that Miller’s sentence needs to be implemented after more than two decades on death row.
Miller was convicted of murdering three men during a shooting at their workplace in 1999.
