Following 1st nitrogen execution in U.S., Alabama puts man to death via lethal injection

Jamie Mills was sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of Fred and Vera Hill. (Alabama Department of Corrections)

ATMORE, Ala. — Alabama executed a man Thursday in the 20-year-old murder of a retired couple in the state’s first execution since conducting the nation’s first capital punishment using nitrogen gas earlier this year.

The governor’s office announced the death of Jamie Ray Mills, 50, using lethal injection for the 2004 murders of Floyd Hill, 87, and his wife Vera Hill, 72. Mills died at 6:26 p.m.

“Almost 20 years ago, the grandchildren of Floyd and Vera Hill, worried for their grandparents, filed a missing-person report only for police to discover the couple had been brutally and horrendously beaten to death,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a news release.  “The Hills’ lives were taken at the hands of Jamie Mills. The evidence in this case is overwhelming, and Mr. Mills is undoubtedly guilty.

“Tonight, two decades after he committed these murders, Jamie Mills has paid the price for his heinous crimes. I pray for the victims and their loved ones as they continue to grieve.”

Media witnesses reported no complications with the execution.

Speaking before the state carried out his punishment, Mills left final messages for members of his family and one of his attorneys, Charlotte Morrison.

“I love my family,” Mills said according to media witnesses. “I love my brother and sister. I couldn’t ask for more. Charlotte, you fought hard for me. I love you all. Carry on.”

Mills had maintained his innocence, according to his attorneys with the Equal Justice Initiative.

“Jamie Mills becomes another person needlessly killed by state officials who comfortably tolerate state deception, violation of the law and breach of fundamental, constitutional rights to carry out a death sentence they claim upholds the rule of law,” Mills’ attorneys said in a statement. “There will come a day when governments recognize the perverse injustice of this process and the wrongfulness of this punishment. It will be a day that is too late for Jamie Mills which makes his death tragically regrettable and mournfully unjust.”

A jury convicted Mills in 2007 on three counts of capital murder: two in the deaths of the Hills, and a third allowed under state law because the killings happened in a single act. The jury voted 11-1 that he should be sentenced to death, and the judge agreed with the sentence.

Mills was 30 at the time of the killings and didn’t have a job, court filings show. He had last worked at a service station Floyd Hill frequented, according to the court documents, and employees at the station knew Hill carried a lot of cash, which he used to pay for gas.

The Hills were retired, prosecutors said, and lived off Social Security and proceeds from yard sales.

According to court documents, Mills and his common-law wife, JoAnn Mills, drove to the Hill residence in Guin, about 80 miles northwest of Birmingham near the Mississippi line, on June 24, 2004. The Hills let them in after they said they needed to use a phone.

JoAnn Mills would later testify that her husband said they were going to talk to a man about some money. She also said it was obvious Floyd Hill recognized her husband, because he called him by name.

The four then walked to the shed located on the premises where the Hills stored items to sell as part of an upcoming yard sale, according to court documents. Mills beat Floyd, then proceeded to strike Vera with a hammer. Mills then stole about $140 worth of items during the incident.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm confirmed the time of death to journalists Thursday and read a statement from the Hills’ family.

“In the past 20 years, our family has been seeking justice,” the statement said. “Today justice has been served. However, it took 20 years to do so. Our family believes in the judicial system, no matter how long it takes. Our family, now, can have some closure from this heinous crime he committed and our loving grandparents can rest in peace.”

Only hours before Thursday’s execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mills’ appeal , clearing the state’s final obstacle to have him executed. The orders on both of his appeals did not cite a reason for the denials.

Mills’ attorneys had asked the nation’s top court to consider that prosecutors had not revealed to Mills’ defense team a plea deal with his wife to avoid a death sentence.

The Supreme Court’s denial is the most recent episode in which the courts rebuffed Mills’ efforts to at least have his execution delayed if not overturned , and for his case to be reopened.

Mills’ attorneys  had also asked the Supreme Court to intervene, claiming Alabama’s lethal injection protocol violated his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment because he must remain strapped in a gurney for hours.

The Supreme Court let a lower court’s ruling denying that claim stand.

Civil rights and human rights groups objected to Mills’ execution as they have for prior executions.

“Executions go against the values the state holds,” said Tabitha Isner, vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party. “We say we are a Christian state, but it doesn’t appear that the state believes in redemption. It doesn’t believe in salvation.”

Many delivered petitions to the governor’s office signed by thousands of individuals hoping to stop the execution.

Abraham Bonowitz, with the anti-execution group Death Penalty Action, called Mills’ punishment unnecessary.

“We can hold people who have done awful crimes accountable and punish them severely without executions,” he said. “And we know that because that is what we do in the vast majority of cases.”

Mills was Alabama’s second execution of 2024. The state allows people on death row to choose either lethal injection or nitrogen gas in their executions. Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed using nitrogen gas in January .

Opponents of using nitrogen in execution say it’s difficult to administer the gas through a mask, which could let in oxygen and keep someone alive longer while they struggle to breathe.

The state plans two more executions this year:Keith Edmund Gavin by lethal injection in July, and Alan Eugene Miller by nitrogen gas in September.

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