Alabama executes second death row inmate by nitrogen hypoxia

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Alabama conducted the United States' second execution with the use of nitrogen gas on Thursday evening, finally killing Alan Eugene Miller for the fatal 1999 workplace shooting of three people after the state failed to administer his sentence by lethal injection years earlier.

Miller, 59, was executed by nitrogen hypoxia, beginning at 6:16 p.m. at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala.

The nitrogen gas flowed for about 15 minutes, prison officials said. Media witnesses reported that Miller, strapped to a gurney, was seen shaking for about two minutes straight, followed by about six minutes of him gasping for air.

He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m., the state's Department of Corrections confirmed to UPI in a statement.

Commission John Hamm of the Alabama Department of Corrections told reporters during a press conference following the execution that it went as planned.

"Just like in Smith, ... there's going to be involuntary body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen," he said. "So that was nothing we did not expect."

Attorney General Steve Marshall explained Miller's shaking in a statement as "some agonal breaths" and "slight movements associated with dying process."

Nitrogen hypoxia is a method of execution that deprives the brain of oxygen by forcing inmates to breath only nitrogen.

Miller is the second person in the United States to have their sentence carried out by this method after Alabama executed Kenneth Smith with nitrogen gas on Jan. 25.

The state originally tried to carry out Miller's execution by lethal injection in September 2022, but it was called off after prison officials failed to access his veins within protocol time limits to administer the injection.

When the state originally tried to execute his sentence, Miller was fighting in court to be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia, a method Alabama has made available to death row inmates since 2018.

Miller later sued to stop his execution but then later dropped his case, according to Marshall.

Miller was convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of three people on Aug. 5, 1999.

He killed two of his coworkers at Ferguson Enterprises, shooting them nine times, before killing a third as Post Airgas, a previous place of employment.

The Alabama Department of Corrections told UPI that Miller refused breakfast on Thursday morning and had a final meal of hamburger steak, baked potato and French fries.

"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," Marshall said in a statement.

"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."