Alabama Sets Date for Second Nitrogen Gas Execution Amid Legal Challenge after Contested First Use

The state of Alabama has announced the scheduling of a second execution utilizing nitrogen gas, following their historic usage of the method last year. Governor Kay Ivey set September 26th as the execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, who was found guilty of murdering three individuals during a 1999 workplace incident. During the previous execution, which took place in January, Kenneth Smith experienced intense convulsions and seizures while being executed via nitrogen gas, lasting several minutes on the gurney. Miller’s current legal case challenges the procedure as a breach of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, citing eyewitness accounts of Smith’s death. Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the initial execution as “textbook”, and the state intends to administer further death penalties through nitrogen gas. State officials also noted that Miller has been held in confinement since 2000, and it is now time to enforce his sentence. Miller, a former delivery truck driver, was implicated in the slaying of Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks, and Scott Yancy at their places of work.