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Alabama has since offered to aid other states seeking to carry
out executions using nitrogen gas, a method Alabama called "the
most painless and humane method of execution known to man" but
one that human rights groups have condemned as cruel and
torturous.
Alabama has touted asphyxiation as a simpler alternative for
prison systems that struggle to find either veins or the
required drugs for lethal injections.
State Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a motion asking the
court to allow the Alabama Department of Corrections to execute
Alan Eugene Miller, who has been on death row since 2000 for
murdering two co-workers and a former co-worker at separate
locations in 1999. If approved, Governor Kay Ivey would set a
date.
Miller had previously been assigned an execution date in 2022
but it was delayed by last-minute legal action, according to the
filing.
"As the State of Alabama is prepared to carry out the execution
of Miller's sentence by means of nitrogen hypoxia, it is once
more the appropriate time for the execution of his sentence,"
the filing said.
On Jan. 25, Alabama put to death convicted murderer Kenneth
Smith, who held his breath in vain as executioners asphyxiated
him with nitrogen gas.
The state had predicted Smith would lose consciousness in less
than a minute and die soon after. However, Smith appeared to
remain conscious for several minutes after the nitrogen was
activated, according to five journalists who were witnesses.
Marshall said in a statement afterward that the execution of
Smith proved that nitrogen hypoxia was "an effective and humane
method of execution."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Jonathan
Allen; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)
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