Second death row inmate is killed by controversial execution method
Joe Yates
Featured Image Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections/Police
A mass murderer trembled on the gurney 'for about two minutes' before his execution.
Death row inmate Alan Miller was controversially killed in the State of Alabama yesterday evening (September 26), and in the process became only the second person to die the way he did.
Before we get into the execution method, which defense lawyers claim it violates a prisoner's rights as well as the UN warning it could even be deemed as torture, we'll dive into why he was strapped to the chair in the first place.
Advert
Back in 1999, the then 34-year-old unleashed hell on three people, with the a testimony that was read out during his trial claimed the motive behind his wicked crimes were that his colleagues and former supervisor were spreading rumors about him being gay.
In response, Miller visited his place of work, Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham, Alabama, a heating and air-conditioning company that distributed the white goods.
Armed with a gun he shot co-workers 32-year-old Lee Holdbrooks, a total of six times, and 28-year-old Christopher Yancy - three times.
The crazed killer then hopped in his car and drove a total of five miles to a place where he used to work, and shot his old supervisor 39-year-old Terry Jarvis, a total of five times.
He was handed the death penalty the following July, and after serving 22 years on death row he was due to be executed by way of lethal injection - but a problem arose on September 22, 2022.
While strapped to the gurney prison staff were unable to find a vein to deliver the injection into and with the death warrant running out at midnight, it was delayed.
Two months later, it was ruled he would be executed by way of nitrogen hypoxia - a controversial method.
Until earlier this year, when Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed in the same state, it had never been used on a human and was only authorised in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama.
The method consists of a person breathing in nitrogen through a respirator over his nose and mouth, meaning he couldn't breathe in any oxygen.
Despite it being heavily contested and lawyers, arguing it violated the prisoner's rights as well as the UN warning it could subject prisoners to 'cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture'.
Yesterday (September 26), Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara, a local journalist for Alabama Media Group, was in the gallery for Miller's execution.
She took to Twitter noting that 'Miller shook for about two minutes on the gurney, followed by about six minutes of gasping for air', adding that struggles to catch his breath were 'off and on'.
Shatara tweeted: "'I didn’t do anything to be in here,' he said for his last words. He asked his family and friends witnessing the execution to take care of someone, which was inaudible.
"'I didn’t do anything to be on death row,' he said again."
Miller, whose last meal was hamburger steak, a baked potato, and French fries, was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time.