Alabama has carried out the second execution of a death row inmate using the controversial nitrogen gas method.
Convicted murderer Alan Eugene Miller, 59, died at a south Alabama prison on Thursday. He was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time, about eight minutes after the procedure began.
Miller was convicted of a 1999 workplace rampage in which he killed three of his co-workers - Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy.
During the execution, Miller shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes, his body at times pulling against the restraints. This was followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became still.
The nitrogen gas method involves placing a respirator-style mask over the inmate’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death by oxygen deprivation.
Some experts, including the American Veterinary Medical Association, have deemed the method “unacceptable” for euthanising most animals.
However, state officials argue that death by nitrogen gas is humane, claiming it causes unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.
Miller was the second person to be executed using nitrogen gas in the state after Alabama first employed the method in January - and which saw Kenneth Smith put to death.
In his final words, Miller said: "I didn't do anything to be in here."
He also asked his family and friends to "take care" of someone, but the individual's name was not clear because his voice was muffled by a gas mask covering his face.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement: “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.”
Family members of the three victims did not witness the execution and did not issue a statement to be read to reporters, state officials said.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said: "Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol."
However, Lauren Gill, a journalist for magazine Bolts, wrote on social media site X: "I was a witness for Alabama's execution of Alan Miller by nitrogen gas tonight. Again, it did not go as state officials promised.
"Miller visibly struggled for roughly two minutes, shaking and pulling at his restraints. He then spent the next five to six minutes intermittently gasping for air."
The execution follows what Miller’s attorney’s called “physical and mental torture inflicted upon” him during a failed execution attempt in 2022.
Miller had reportedly been poked with needles for over an hour as prison staff tried to find a vein during an aborted lethal injection. At one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before state officials called off the execution.
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