The state of Alabama executed prisoner Alan Eugene Miller by nitrogen gas on Thursdaymaking him the second to die by the controversial death penalty method.
Miller, 59, was sentenced to death in 2000 for shooting to death three of his former associates in 1999.
An earlier attempt to execute Miller in 2022 was aborted when officials could not access his veins. Thursday’s execution came after a trial in which Miller argued that the nitrogen gas could cause him unnecessary suffering, violating his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the settlement was proof that the method – which had been used for the first time to execute Kenneth Smith earlier this year – was constitutional.
Defenders of the method – nitrogen hypoxia – claim that it causes the person to lose consciousness quickly when they breathe in 100% nitrogen instead of oxygen. However, doctors have said that it is next to impossible to determine when someone loses consciousness during the execution.
Critics have said that dying from nitrogen hypoxia is akin to being tortured to death because it can cause excessive pain while the person suffocates.
Witnesses to the execution reported that he was shaking on a stretcher for several minutes before he died. Witnesses to Smith’s execution reported similar observations.
“Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol,” Alabama Commissioner of Corrections John Hamm told reporters after Miller died.
Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized the use of nitrogen gas in executions, but have not yet used it.