Alan Eugene Miller: Alabama death row inmate who hates needles likely to be first person to be executed with nitrogen gas

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Jurors convicted Miller after 20 minutes of deliberation. They eventually recommended a death sentence, which was imposed by a judge. Testimony suggested Miller was delusional. He believed the victims were spreading rumors about him, such as he was gay. A defense psychiatrist found that Miller suffered from severe mental illness. However, he concluded that Miller's condition was not bad enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense, the Daily Mail reported.  

Alabama's primary execution method is lethal injection. However, in 2018, the state approved the untried method called nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative. Inmates were given some time in which to designate hypoxia as their preferred method of execution. Miller said in the court how he disliked needles and that nitrogen gas seemed better than lethal injection. "I did not want to be stabbed with a needle," Miller said, CBS news reported.

What is nitrogen hypoxia?

In a nitrogen hypoxia execution, the prisoner would breathe pure nitrogen, which would deprive their body of oxygen and cause asphyxiation. Proponents argue that this method is a more humane method of executing a person. 

“In a very real sense, execution by nitrogen hypoxia is experimental,” DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham had told Newsweek in the past. “It has never been done before and no one has any idea whether it is going to work the way its proponents say it will. And there is no way to test it because it is completely unethical to experimentally kill someone against their will.”

Alabama has yet to develop a system for using nitrogen to carry out executions. Therefore, the state is not setting execution dates for inmates who choose this method. Miller had to sign a sworn statement saying he had given the form to a corrections officer. "I gave my signed form to the correctional officer who was collecting the forms," the affidavit stated. Miller is reportedly trying to block his execution at Holman Prison.