Alan Eugene Miller was convicted in 2000 of capital murder in the 1999 deaths of Lee Michael Holdbrooks, Christopher S. Yancy, and Terry Lee Jarvis. He was executed Thursday using nitrogen gas, the second time the state has used that method. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
The state of Alabama Thursday executed Alan Eugene Miller by nitrogen gas, the second nitrogen execution carried out by the state this year and the fourth overall.
Miller, 59, who was sentenced to death after being found guilty of a triple homicide in 1999, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m., according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“I didn’t do anything to be in here,” he said before the execution, and asked family and friends witnessing the execution to take care of someone, which was inaudible. “I didn’t do anything to be on death row,” Miller said again.
Media witnesses reported that Miller shook for two minutes while strapped to the gurney. He then intermittently gasped for air for about six minutes. Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was executed by nitrogen gas in January, also shook and gasped while the gas was administered.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said in a news conference following the execution there were involuntary movements as Miller was deprived of oxygen.
“That was nothing that we did not expect,” Hamm said.
Gov. Kay Ivey issued a news release announcing Miller’s execution.
“Just as Alan Miller cowardly fled after he maliciously committed three calculated murders in 1999, he has attempted to escape justice for two decades,” the statement said. “Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the execution method elected by the inmate. His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray that they can find comfort all these years later.”
South Carolina, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma have also conducted executions in the last week.
A jury convicted Miller in 2000 of the murders of Lee Michael Holdbrooks, Christopher S. Yancy, and Terry Lee Jarvis, coworkers who Miller believed were spreading rumors about him.
Miller’s attorneys argued in court that he suffered from mental illness, which contributed to his actions.
Miller initially filed a lawsuit to delay his execution, arguing that execution by nitrogen violated his equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as well as his Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Alabama Legislature authorized nitrogen gas executions in 2018. Former Sen. Tripp Pittman, R-Montrose, who sponsored the bill, said in an interview last year that he believed it would be a more humane way to die.
No nitrogen gas execution had ever been carried out before this year. While it had been used in some animal euthanasia, the American Veterinary Medical Association generally discourages its use and recommends the administration of a sedative if employed. It is not clear if Alabama’s protocol includes a sedative for the condemned inmate.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office announced in a news release last month that Miller had dropped his lawsuit after he and the state reached an agreement concerning his scheduled execution.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said at the time that “the resolution of this case confirms that Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane.”
The state used nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith in January. Media witnesses reported that Smith convulsed for two minutes and went through seven minutes of heavy breathing as he took large breaths.
Thursday’s execution was the second time Miller had been in the death chamber. In September 2022, officials called off Miller’s scheduled execution by lethal injection after saying they could not find a vein to administer the drugs. Miller alleged that officials left him upside down on a gurney while bleeding for 20 minutes.
It was the second of three botched executions that year. In July 2022, Joe Nathan James Jr.’s execution was delayed by hours. A later autopsy found multiple puncture wounds on James’ body, which suggested that staff tried multiple times to find a vein. The Alabama Department of Corrections said it could not confirm if James was conscious prior to his execution.
Miller was the fourth person executed by Alabama this year. After Smith, the state executed Jamie Ray Mills in May and Keith Edmund Gavin in July, both by lethal injection. Alabama is scheduled to execute Derrick Dearman by lethal injection in October and Carey Grayson by nitrogen gas in November.
The six executions, if carried out, would be the most in Alabama since 2011.