A federal judge will allow attorneys for an Alabama death row inmate, who the state failed to execute on Thursday night, to preserve evidence and have the inmate examined for injuries.
Alan Eugene Miller was set to be executed Thursday night by the state of Alabama for his August 5, 1999 shooting spree that left three men dead in Shelby County. But
it was called off at approximately 11:30 p.m. because Miller’s veins couldn’t be accessed before the death warrant expired at midnight, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said.
Miller’s attorneys asked in a filing made Friday morning in the Middle District of Alabama that one of Miller’s “attorneys and/or one of their agents be given access to meet with Mr. Miller in person today at Holman Correctional Facility with equipment necessary to preserve evidence of his injuries from last night’s attempted execution.”
“(The state has) publicly admitted they had difficulty accessing his veins during the process, and the execution was called off,” the motion said. “Mr. Miller has injuries from the attempted execution that can and should be photographed and/or filmed. For the reasons stated above, (Miller) respectfully moves this court to enter an order granting his motion for access to preserve evidence and directing (the state) to permit the access requested above.”.
District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, Jr. ruled that Miller’s attorneys can have access to him between certain hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and are allowed to bring in their cell phones. The attorneys are also allowed to take photos and videos.
The state “shall make immediate efforts to locate and preserve evidence concerning the attempted execution, including but not limited to notes, emails, texts, and used medical supplies such as syringes, swabs, scalpels, and IV-lines,” the judge ordered.
He also ordered that Hamm, Warden Terry Raybon, “and any and all ADOC officials involved in the execution shall preserve all notes, emails, and texts concerning the execution, including those made and/or exchanged before (starting at 6 pm, September 22, 2022), during, and after the attempted execution; and ADOC shall preserve any records related to any medical observation, inspection, charting, and/or treatment of the Plaintiff both before and after the attempted execution.”
Around 12:30 a.m. when announcing the failed execution attempt, Hamm told reporters: “Due to the time constraints resulting in the lateness of the court proceedings, the execution was called off once it was determined the condemned’s veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol before the expiration of the death warrant.”
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling just after 9 p.m., giving the state nearly three hours to conduct the execution before the death warrant expired.
Hamm said the execution team did start trying to access Miller’s veins to insert the intravenous lines for the 3-drug lethal injection cocktail, but he isn’t sure how long the team worked to try to access a vein. “I’m not sure... I wasn’t looking at that. We were more focused on the time that the court, the Supreme Court, sent their order. Before we start accessing veins, we have other things we have to do that take time.”
When asked what was being done during that nearly 3-hour period, Hamm would not elaborate. “Like I said, there are several things that we have to do before we even start accessing the veins. And that was taking a little bit longer than we anticipated.”
Huffaker issued an order Monday, ruling that Miller should not be executed using lethal injection but rather using nitrogen hypoxia. That ruling was upheld by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Miller’s case has centered around claims that in June 2018, he completed a form distributed to death row inmates at William C. Holman Correctional Facility electing to die by the nitrogen hypoxia instead of the default method of lethal injection.
The AG’s Office argued there is no record of that form being submitted. Executions using nitrogen hypoxia have not yet begun, and the state has said they are not yet ready to implement the method.
Huffaker set a status conference by phone on Friday morning with lawyers from both Miller and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to discuss the motion.
Source: al.com, Staff, September 24, 2022
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