Alabama officials have announced plans to execute two more people by nitrogen hypoxia. Attorney General Steve Marshall stated that the state will kill Alan Miller by nitrogen hypoxia in September, ABC 3340 News reports. And Carey Dale Grayson will be put to death with the same method in late November, according to AL.com.
Marshall said the state settled a lawsuit Alan Miller filed challenging that method of execution. Miller’s argument centered on reports that Smith’s January execution by nitrogen gas caused him great pain and discomfort. But, according to ABC, Marshall stated that after the federal court allowed Miller to obtain discovery, he “agreed to settle his case and to dismiss, with prejudice, all of his claims without so much as a hearing.”
Miller was sentenced to death for the murders of his coworkers, Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancey, and Terry Lee Jarvis in August 1999, ABC reported. His execution is scheduled for September 26.
Alabama first used nitrogen hypoxia in January when it executed Kenneth Smith, the first state in the U.S. to use the method. When it announced the plan, it sent shock waves throughout the country.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that she was “alarmed by the imminent execution. . . which could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.” The Equal Justice Initiative pointed out that the American Veterinary Medical Association states that nitrogen gas should not be used to euthanize animals “because [they] may experience distressing side effects before loss of consciousness.” The New York Times reported that “Nitrogen is not used in states where medically assisted dying is legal.”
Undeterred, Alabama proceeded, and while Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall boasted that the killing of Smith by nitrogen gas was a “textbook” execution, witnesses disputed that account, insisting that he writhed and convulsed for four minutes before dying.
And now, the state is going to do it again. AG Marshall announced they will kill Alan Miller by nitrogen hypoxia in September, ABC 3340 News reports. Marshall said the state settled a lawsuit Miller filed challenging that method of execution, citing reports that Smith’s January execution by nitrogen gas caused him great pain and discomfort.
But Marshall stated that after the federal court allowed Miller to obtain discovery, he “agreed to settle his case and to dismiss, with prejudice, all of his claims without so much as a hearing,” according to ABC.
Miller was sentenced to death for the murders of his coworkers, Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancey, and Terry Lee Jarvis, in August 1999. His execution is scheduled for September 26.
The 49-year-old Grayson was 19 when he and three friends were convicted of killing Vickie Deblieux in February 1994. All four were convicted of capital murder, but after the U.S. Supreme Court banned executions of defendants who were younger than 18 at the time of the crime, the other three, who were younger than 18, were resentenced to life in prison without parole.
Four states, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, have passed legislation allowing execution by nitrogen hypoxia, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
However, access to gas could become increasingly difficult. In March, three major nitrogen gas manufacturers told the Guardian that they have taken steps to ensure that corrections departments in the U.S. cannot obtain their nitrogen cylinders for use in executions. Airgas, owned by the French company Air Liquide, spearheaded the effort and was joined by Matheson and Air Products.
