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The state of Alabama halted the execution of Alan Eugene Miller, who was set to die by lethal injection on Thursday, September 22. Officials at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility called off the execution of the death row inmate after they failed to find a viable vein before the death warrant expired at midnight.
Alan Eugene Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing three people in a workplace shooting in 1999. The halt to Thursday’s execution comes on the heels of a lengthy legal battle waged over the method used to execute the inmate.
Miller was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s injunction blocking Miller’s execution on Thursday.
Alan Eugene Miller returned to his cell following a failed execution
Earlier this year, Alan Eugene Miller filed a lawsuit against the state attempting to block his execution by alleging that they had lost paperwork in which he had opted to die from nitrogen hypoxia. The lawsuit was filed after the state set a date to execute Miller by lethal injection on September 22.
Nitrogen Hypoxia is considered a controversial untested method of executing inmates. While Alabama consented to its use in 2018, a proper protocol to administer the method is yet to be devised by the state.
Other than Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only two states to have legalized this method. However, they have yet to develop a safe protocol for its usage.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. issued an injunction blocking the state from executing Miller by any means other than Nitrogen Hypoxia, AL.com reported.
In his ruling, Huffaker wrote:
“That the state is not yet prepared to execute anyone by nitrogen hypoxia does not mean it will harm the state or the public to honor Miller’s timely election of nitrogen hypoxia. By contrast, if an injunction does not issue, Miller will be irrevocably deprived of his choice in how he will die — a choice the Alabama Legislature bestowed upon him.”
Following the District Judge’s ruling, the state filed an appeal, and the Supreme Court overruled the judge's decision on Thursday evening.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said that after the Supreme court lifted the injunction on Thursday, officials were unable to find the vein before the death warrant expired. The inmate was then taken back to his cell, AL.com reported. In a statement, he said:
“Due to the time constraints resulting in the lateness of the court proceedings, the execution was called off once it was determined the condemned's veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol before the expiration of the death warrant.”
Alan Eugene Miller will be executed at a different date in Alabama
According to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, despite the halt, Governor Kay Ivey expects another date will be set for Alan Eugene Miller’s execution at the earliest, CNN purported.
In a statement to CNN, Governor Kay Ivey said:
"Despite the circumstances that led to the cancellation of this execution, nothing will change the fact that a jury heard the evidence of this case and made a decision. It does not change the fact that Mr. Miller never disputed his crimes. And it does not change the fact that three families still grieve."
Miller opted for an untested method - Nitrogen hypoxia - because of his abject fear of needles. A report on NPR revealed that lethal injections cause severe pain, where the patient experiences respiratory distress associated with drowning and asphyxiation.
