Staff Reports
Alabama may execute a death sentence next week using a new way.
The procedure replaces an inmate's oxygen with nitrogen, causing death. Alabama approved the procedure in 2018, but it hasn't been utilized or evaluated, NPR says.
James Houts, deputy AG, said U.S. Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. said it's "very likely" the procedure might be used to execute Alan Eugene Miller on September 22. Alabama's Corrections Commissioner decides if the new method will be used.
Miller is slated to be executed via fatal injection, but he requests nitrogen. The Alabama attorney general's office said there's no proof Miller requested nitrogen hypoxia execution, citing AP.
Miller dislikes needles after uncomfortable blood draws. He thought nitrogen gas sounded like dental nitrous oxide and was preferable to fatal injection. “I did not want to be stabbed with a needle,” Miller said.
Prosecutors said Miller wanted to postpone execution. Houts told the judge that the authorities sought to equip Miller with a nitrogen mask, but Miller declined.
Miller's attorney, Mara Klebaner, said she doesn't want Miller to be a "test case" for a "untested protocol" if the state's nitrogen hypoxia policy is not definitive.
Oklahoma and Mississippi have also approved nitrogen hypoxia. Russell Bucklew, a Missouri inmate, tried to acquire nitrogen hypoxia, but the U.S. rejected him. High Court. Neil Gorsuch said the approach couldn't be employed because nitrogen hypoxia was experimental and unprepared.
Miller, 57, killed three guys at work in 1999.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on BLAZE MEDIA.
