The execution of Alan Eugene Miller (January 20, 1965 – September 26, 2024) took place in the U.S. state of

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

by nitrogen hypoxia. It was the second execution in both the world and state to use this particular method, following the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in January 2024. Miller was convicted of the August 1999 murders of three men in

Pelham, Alabama Pelham is a city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. The population was 24,318 at the 2020 census, It incorporated on July 10, 1964 and is a suburb located in the Birmingham metropolitan area, Alabama which was home to nearly 1.2 mill ...

, and was sentenced to death in 2000.

Crime

On August 5, 1999, Miller, armed with a .40-caliber

Glock Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

pistol, shot and killed two of his co-workers, 32-year-old Lee Holdbrooks and 28-year-old Christopher Yancy, at a heating and air-conditioning distributor, then drove five miles to a business where he had previously worked and shot and killed his former supervisor, 39-year-old Terry Jarvis. Holdbrooks was shot six times, Yancy was shot three times, and Jarvis was shot five times. After the shooting, Miller drove off, only to be pulled over later that day on the side of an Alabama highway after being spotted by police. It required four officers and four sets of handcuffs to subdue him. According to trial testimony, Miller's supposed motive behind the murders was that he believed the men were spreading rumors about him being

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. A psychiatrist hired by Miller's defense found he suffered from severe mental illness. At the time of the shootings, he was employed as a delivery truck driver at Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham.

Failed execution attempt

Miller was scheduled to be executed via

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

on September 22, 2022, but his execution was called off after prison staff failed to establish intravenous access to deliver a lethal injection. It was concluded they would not be able to complete the execution by the midnight deadline. Miller filed a federal lawsuit following the failed execution attempt. In November 2022, the state of Alabama agreed it would not use lethal injection to execute Miller and would instead use nitrogen gas.

Execution

Miller was executed by nitrogen hypoxia at the

Holman Correctional Facility William C. Holman Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections prison located in Atmore, Alabama. The facility is along Alabama State Highway 21. The facility was originally built to house 581 inmates. Holman held as many as ...

Atmore, Alabama Atmore is a city in Escambia County, Alabama, United States. The population was 8,391 at the 2020 census. It was incorporated on May 9, 1907. The Atmore Commercial Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Th ...

, on September 26, 2024. He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. local time. For his

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States Contrary to the common belief t ...

he had a hamburger steak, a

baked potato A baked potato, known in the United Kingdom as a jacket potato, is a preparation of potato. After baking, it may be served with fillings, toppings or condiments, such as butter, cheese, sour cream, gravy, baked beans and tuna. Some varieties of ...

, and

french fries French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are '' batonnet'' or '' julienne''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and f ...

. His final words were, "I didn't do anything to be in here." It marked the second time that Alabama executed a condemned inmate using nitrogen hypoxia following the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in January 2024. According to witness Lauren Gill, "Miller visibly struggled for roughly two minutes, shaking and pulling at his restraints. He then spent the next 5-6 min intermittently gasping for air." Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said the shaking movements were anticipated. "Just like in enneth EugeneSmith we talked about there is going to be involuntarily body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen. So that was nothing we did not expect," Hamm said, explaining the nitrogen gas flowed for 15 minutes. "Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol." Miller's execution was the 1,600th execution in the United States since the resumption of executions in 1976. He was the last of five inmates to be executed across the United States in the span of one week, the most inmates executed within a week since July 2003. The others were Freddie Eugene Owens in South Carolina on September 20,

Marcellus Williams Felicia "Lisha" Anne Gayle Picus (; February 6, 1956 – August 11, 1998) was an American journalist murdered during a burglary in her gated community in University City, Missouri, on August 11, 1998. Gayle, a 42-year-old reporter for the ''St. L ...

in Missouri and Travis Mullis in Texas on September 24, and Emmanuel Littlejohn in Oklahoma on the morning of September 26.

References

! colspan="3" , Executions by nitrogen hypoxia in the United States , - ! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in Alabama , - ! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in the United States {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Alan Eugene 1965 births 2024 deaths 2024 in Alabama 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions by Alabama American male criminals American people executed for murder Executed people from Alabama Deaths from hypoxia People convicted of murder by Alabama September 2024 in the United States People executed by Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia

Crime

Failed execution attempt

Execution

See also

References