James Houtz, the state’s deputy attorney general, told a federal judge that it is “very likely” that hypoxia will be available for Alan Miller’s execution next week. The technique was approved by the state in 2018, but has never been used or tested. It would cause death by forcing the prisoner to breathe only nitrogen, depriving him of the oxygen he needs to maintain bodily functions. Miller was convicted of killing three men in a 1999 workplace shooting near Birmingham, Alabama. He is currently scheduled to be executed on September 22nd by lethal injection, but is trying to block that in the future. Miller said he chose nitrogen hypoxia over lethal injection because of a fear of needles, but prison officials lost his papers. In a hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. asked whether Alabama was ready to carry out executions by hypoxia. Mr. Houtz said the method could be available as soon as next week and that officials were finalizing a protocol for how it would work. However, the final decision on when to use the new method will rest with Corrections Commissioner Jon Hamm. Image: Alan Miller convicted of workplace murder, shooting rampage that killed three men in 1999. Image:AP What is nitrogen hypoxia? In 2018, Alabama became the third state to allow the untested use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners, following Oklahoma and Mississippi. At the time, state law gave inmates a short window to choose it as their preferred method of execution. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air that humans breathe and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. The theory behind the execution method is that changing the composition of the air to 100% nitrogen would cause the prisoner to pass out and then die from lack of oxygen. States began to recommend nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method of execution due to the difficulty of obtaining lethal injection drugs and the ongoing litigation over the humaneness of this method. Those who support it have argued that it will be simpler and more humane. “Human experiment” Trip Pittman, a Republican lawmaker who sponsored the 2018 legislation, thought it would be similar to how airline passengers pass out when a plane decompresses. However, critics have likened the method to human experimentation. Read more: Death row inmate for 25 years ‘totally innocent’ Texas’ oldest death row inmate says he’ll give victim’s family ‘a big hug in heaven’ Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said “it’s completely untested.” While advocates have argued it would be quick and painless, Dunham noted that states once said the same thing about the electric chair. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s euthanasia guidelines say that inert gas hypoxia is acceptable, under certain conditions, for the euthanasia of chickens, turkeys and pigs, but is not recommended for other mammals such as rats.
