Judge blocks lethal injection for Alabama death row inmate who wishes to die by nitrogen hypoxia

The execution of an Alabama man scheduled for this week will not commence because the state is not prepared to carry out an execution by nitrogen hypoxia, per the inmate’s request in paperwork he said he filled out in 2018.

U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, Jr. on Monday issued a preliminary injunction to block the state from executing Alan Miller by any other method than nitrogen hypoxia. His ruling effectively blocks Alabama from carrying out the lethal injection set to take place Thursday at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted of killing three men in a 1999 workplace shooting in Shelby County. Prosecutors said an employee entering Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham spotted Miller exiting the building before discovering Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy dead inside. From there, Miller traveled to nearby Post Airgas, where he killed Terry Jarvis.

Prosecutors said the gunman previously worked at the second location, where Jarvis was a current employee.

Jurors took just 20 minutes to deliberate before recommending he receive the death penalty.

Alan Miller

In 2018, the state of Alabama approved nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method. Miller testified during a hearing earlier this month that he filled out the state form required to change execution methods the same day it was handed out to inmates. He cited a fear of needles and a previous painful attempt at drawing blood in the document, which the state says it has no record of.

Huffaker said that while he can’t rule out the possibility that Miller is lying about selecting nitrogen in a bid to delay his forthcoming execution, he found his testimony to be credible.

Not dying by his selected method would result in “the loss of his ‘final dignity’—to choose how he will die,” the judge wrote, per AL.com.

Officials escort murder suspect Alan Eugene Miller away from the Pelham City Jail in Ala., on Aug. 5, 1999. (Dave Martin/)

Huffaker’s ruling comes a week after Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said in a brief affidavit that the state “cannot carry out an execution by nitrogen hypoxia on September 22.” He did not provide further details.

Huffaker on Monday suggested that it seems likely Alabama will be able to use nitrogen hypoxia in the near future.

“From all that appears, the State intends to announce its readiness to conduct executions by nitrogen hypoxia in the upcoming weeks,” the judge wrote.

Nitrogen hypoxia is a proposed execution method in which the inmate is forced to breathe only nitrogen, ultimately depriving him or her of the oxygen needed to survive. Nitrogen hypoxia has been authorized by Alabama and two other states for executions but has not yet been used.

With News Wire Services