Convicted Killer Becomes 2nd Alabama Inmate to Be Executed by Nitrogen Gas

Alan Eugene Miller, who has been on death row since 2000, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 at a prison in Atmore, Ala.

An Alabama man convicted of killing three men was executed Thursday, Sept. 26, making him the second death row inmate in the U.S. to die using a method known as nitrogen hypoxia, according to multiple news reports.

Alan Eugene Miller, who has been on death row since 2000, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., located about 50 miles northeast of Mobile, officials confirmed, according to CNN, the Associated Press, and AL.com.

According to the AP, Miller shook and trembled on a gurney for a total of eight minutes until he became still.

Before the execution, Miller spoke his final words: “I didn’t do anything to be in here,” he said, according to AL.com. He added, “I didn’t do anything to be on death row. Thank you.”

Related: Alabama Becomes 1st State to Execute Inmate with Nitrogen Gas, Which Critics Say Is 'Experimental' Method

According to a statement from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of the August 1999 workplace shooting deaths of his coworkers Lee Holdbrooks, 32, Christopher Yancy, 28, and Terry Jarvis, 39, in Pelham, Ala.

Thursday wasn’t the first time Miller was set to be executed. According to CNN, the state previously tried to execute him by lethal injection in 2022. Alabama officials initially denied his request to die by nitrogen hypoxia, saying it wasn’t prepared to use the now-authorized method. However, the attempt to execute Miller by the default method of lethal injection was called off because of difficulties finding his veins, CNN reported.

Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only states that have authorized nitrogen hypoxia for executions, the Associated Press reported. Alabama became the first to actually utilize the method, which involves forcing pure nitrogen into the inmate's lungs while cutting off the oxygen supply, according to the AP.

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Court documents cited by the Montgomery Advertiser state that Miller and his attorneys eventually reached a deal with the state, granting his request to die by nitrogen hypoxia instead of lethal injection.

Earlier this year, Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person in the U.S. to be executed by nitrogen gas, according to reports from CNN, CBS News and NPR. The Alabama Supreme Court allowed his execution in a November 2023 ruling. The execution was controversial, with Smith's advocates calling the method "experimental.”

Alabama officials have claimed nitrogen hypoxia is "the most painless and humane method of execution known to man,” according to NPR’s reporting, though the American Veterinary Medical Association called the method “unacceptable” for all mammals except pigs.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the method of execution in a statement shared after Miller’s death, adding that “justice has been served.”

“After two decades, Alan Miller was finally put to death for a depraved murder spree that cruelly took the lives of three innocent men: Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Yancy, and Terry Jarvis,” Marshall said. “I ask the people of Alabama to join me in praying for the families and friends of the victims, that they might now find peace and closure.”

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