An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.
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The governor in November directed the state prison system to undertake a “top-to-bottom” review of death penalty procedures after the state was forced to cancel three lethal injections because of problems with intravenous lines.
Under Ivey’s proposal, the state corrections commissioner could immediately designate a new execution date if a delay prevents the state from carrying out an execution on the original date listed on the death warrant.
Any future effort to execute Alan Eugene Miller will be done by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method authorized in Alabama but that has never been used to carry out a death sentence in the U.S.
It took three hours for the state of Alabama to execute Joe Nathan James Jr. last month. The state autopsy won’t be available for months. One reporter conducted an independent autopsy.