By Ivana Hrynkiw
al.com
ATMORE, Ala. - An Alabama man set to die by lethal injection next month claims the correctional officer who was tasked with allowing him to change his execution method four years ago didn’t turn in his form.
Alan Eugene Miller is set to be executed Sept. 22 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The 57-year-old was convicted of killing three men in a Shelby County workplace shooting spree in August 5, 1999. Those men are Lee Michael Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy, and Terry Lee Jarvis.
Through his attorneys Daniel Neppl and Stephen Spector of the national law firm Sidley Austin, Miller filed a federal lawsuit in the Middle District of Alabama on Monday claiming that in the summer of 2018, he received a form from a Holman correctional officer regarding a choice to change his execution method from lethal injection to the newly approved method of nitrogen hypoxia.
There is not yet a state approved process for death by nitrogen hypoxia, and there have been no executions using the method in the United States. In 2018, Ivey signed a bill giving inmates the option to choose execution by nitrogen hypoxia. According to the state, inmates waiting to be executed were allowed to opt in the nitrogen method if they wished, but had to do so within a 30-day period in June 2018. Of the 177 inmates on Alabama’s Death Row, about 50 inmates at the time chose to die by the new method by completing a form distributed inside the prison. Throughout the years, several other inmates have filed lawsuits challenging the opt-in period.
Read more: Alabama executes Joe Nathan James Jr. for 1994 slaying
Miller claims in an affidavit included in court records that he signed the form—meaning he intended to change his method of execution to nitrogen hypoxia—and gave it back to the correctional officer. Miller claims he was denied a copy of the paper and was denied the opportunity to have it notarized.
“I do not know what the correctional officer did with my form after I gave it to him,” Miller said.
In the lawsuit, his lawyers argue that Miller made the change, and his choice to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia should be granted.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office argues, according to Miller’s lawsuit, that it has no record of Miller signing the form.
Miller’s lawsuit mentions a “deeply troubling nature” of lethal injections in the state, citing the 2018 called-off execution of Doyle Lee Hamm and the July 28 execution of Joe Nathan James Jr.
The lawsuit cites the three-hour delay at James’ execution, and statements from the Alabama Department of Corrections that they cannot confirm if James was fully conscious when his execution began.
The state has responded with an ask for Miller to provide more information about his claims. “Miller’s complaint, as drafted, makes it difficult (if not impossible) for Defendants... to understand the precise basis on which (Miller) alleges each of them should be deemed liable,” the AG’s Office wrote in a response filing. “Miller’s complaint ‘is so vague or ambiguous that [Defendants] cannot reasonably prepare a response.’”
The state also said in its filing that officials “are at a loss as to how Miller’s factual allegations about the efficacy of midazolam or Joe Nathan James, Jr.’s recent execution relate to his (case).”
District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. ordered Miller’s team provide a response by Monday.
The evidence presented at Miller’s trial, detailed in court records, showed around 7 a.m. on Aug. 5, 1999, a worker at Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham arrived at the business and saw cars in the parking lot that belonged to sales manager Yancy and delivery truck drivers Holdbrooks and Miller. The witness heard noises and screaming, and then saw Miller armed with a pistol. According to the witness, Miller said, “I’m tired of people starting rumors on me,” before he left the building.
After the witness heard Miller leave, he went back inside the building and saw Yancy and Holdbrooks on the floor, both apparently dead from multiple gunshot wounds. The witness then called police.
When police arrived and began investigating the scene at Ferguson Enterprises, another man showed up for work at Post Airgas in Pelham. That man entered the building, talked with employee Jarvis, and walked off. He noticed Miller — a former employee of Post Airgas — enter the building and walk to the counter. The witness said he heard Miller call out to Jarvis, ”Hey, I hear you’ve been spreading rumors about me.”
The witness heard Jarvis reply, “I have not,” before Miller fired several shots.
The witness said Jarvis collapsed and Miller approached him with the gun before telling him to leave. The witness said he looked back at Jarvis, who was making sounds, but Miller told him to “get out right now.”
When the witness left, he said he heard another gunshot. He then fled and called police.
Police later captured Miller while he was driving in Alabaster and taken to the Pelham Police Department, where he was later charged with murder.