Skip to main content

Court ruling sets stage for Alabama execution of Jamie Ray Mills

The 11th Circuit Court of Criminal Appeals denied two defense motions Tuesday seeking a delay in the execution of Jamie Ray Mills. The ruling sets the stage for Mills, 50, to be executed this week by the state of Alabama by lethal injection.

The defense can still seek a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. The death warrant runs for a 30-hour period from midnight Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.

If the execution goes forward, it will likely be after 6 p.m. Thursday at William C. Holman Correction Facility in Atmore. The Alabama Department of Corrections allows five media members to serve as witnesses for the execution. The media witnesses are told to report to the media center by 4 p.m. Thursday. ADOC emails to the witnesses say the execution states that “… the tentative start time…” is at 6 p.m., barring any pending legal matters.

Mills was convicted of three counts of capital murder in August 2007 for the 2004 beating deaths of an elderly Guin couple. The jury recommended the death penalty by a 11-1 vote. The trial judge took the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Mills to death.

If Mills is executed, it will be the second execution in the state for the year and there are two other executions pending.
  • In January, Kenneth Smith was executed by nitrogen hypoxia, the first time a human was executed by that method.
  • The Alabama Supreme Court has authorized the execution of Keith Edmund Gavin. Gov. Kay Ivey has set the execution date for midnight July 18 to 6 a.m. July 20, with lethal injection as the method.
  • The AG's office has asked that the execution of Alan Eugene Miller with nitrogen hypoxia as the method be authorized. Ivey has set the execution for midnight Sept. 26 to 6 a.m. Sept. 27.
In Mill’s case, Ivey has reserved the right to delay the execution.

"Although I have no current plans to grant clemency in this case, I retain my authority under the Constitution of the State of Alabama to grant a reprieve or commutation, if necessary, at any time before the execution is carried out," Ivey said in her letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, setting the execution date.

However, Ivey has not delayed an execution or granted a reprieve or commutation since becoming governor in 2017.

The crime


“There is no doubt that Mills committed those offenses,” the Alabama Attorney General’ s Office motion to the Alabama Supreme Court, seeking his execution states. “… Mills’ convictions and sentence are final because he has completed his direct appeal, state post-conviction review, and federal habeas review. Accordingly, it is time for this death sentence to be carried out.”

Mills and his wife, Joann, went to the Guin home of Vera Hill, 72, and Floyd Hill, 87, in June 2004 asking to make a phone call, court records and media accounts say. Mills was 30 at the time. Guin is in Marion County in northwest Alabama.

Afterward, the four of them went to a shed where the Hills kept items to sell as part of a yard sale, the Alabama Reflector reported.

The AG’s motion states that the women went back to the home, leaving Floyd Hill and Mills in the shed. Mills beat Hill, who fell to the ground. The women then returned to the shed and found Floyd Hill on the ground. Mills then beat Vera Hill on the back of the head with a hammer, as JoAnn stood in the corner.

Vera Hill died several months later from her injuries.

According to the motion, Jamie Mills then locked the shed and stole items valued at about $140 from the home including a tackle box, medicines, wallet, purse and police scanner.

Joann Mills, who testified against her husband, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Source: montgomeryadvertiser.com, Marty Roney, May 29, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Labels:
Location: Alabama, USA

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Tennessee Supreme Court denies stay for death row inmate Christa Pike

(TNND) — As Tennessee prepares for a Sept. 30 execution, the Tennessee Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Christa Gail Pike’s request to stop it. The court rejected Pike’s challenge to the state’s lethal-injection protocol, finding that her thrombocytosis diagnosis, a condition involving elevated blood platelets, did not show the execution would violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Post a Comment
Read more

Philippines | President Marcos Grants Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso

President Marcos Confirms Decision to Grant Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso  President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed an absolute pardon for Mary Jane Veloso after more than a decade.  On Friday (September 25, 2026), the President confirmed the decision during a visit to Guiuan, Eastern Samar.  According to him, the pardon was officially signed the previous day, marking a major development in the case.  
Post a Comment
Read more

William Thompson Faces Execution in Florida Amid Dementia, Terminal Illness Concerns

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an exe­cu­tion war­rant for 74-year-old pris­on­er William ​“Bill” Thompson less than 24 hours after he was released from the hos­pi­tal to the hos­pice wing of the prison. After his attor­neys raised seri­ous con­cerns about his men­tal com­pe­ten­cy and dete­ri­o­rat­ing phys­i­cal health, Gov. DeSantis agreed to tem­porar­i­ly stay the exe­cu­tion so Mr. Thompson’s com­pe­ten­cy can be eval­u­at­ed on October 1. If he is found com­pe­tent, his exe­cu­tion remains sched­uled for October 13.
Post a Comment
Read more

DNA evidence doesn’t match man who spent decades on death row, Utah prosecutors say

Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen Prosecutors are dropping their plan to seek the death penalty in an upcoming retrial of a Utah man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing in which newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him. Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, the aunt of a former Provo police chief. The state Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter remains in custody and maintains his innocence.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee | Governor permits Christa Pike execution: 'I am upholding the sentence'

Gov. Bill Lee does not plan to stop Christa Pike's execution. Pike, 50, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement released Sept. 28. Pike's attorneys lamented the news.
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida | He executed death row prisoners. Then they came back to haunt him

Dunnellon, Florida—Every night, one of the men Ron McAndrew killed would sit at the foot of his bed and stare, blankly, into his tortured soul. He knew they were coming. He’d shift over in his sheets to make room. “They never said anything,” McAndrew recalls, his aged voice straining from the weight of the memory. “They just sat there and looked at me.” But their eyes would talk. They would ask, "How could you do such a thing?’” says McAndrew. “You always claimed to be a good person. And now you’re killing people.”
Post a Comment
Read more

Texas executes Ker’Sean Ramey

Texas executes man for a triple killing, days after other man convicted in case was put to death  A man was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery at a rural home, 1 week after the other man convicted in the case was put to death.  Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the 6th person executed this year in Texas, with 3 more lethal injections scheduled in the state over the next 2 months. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida executes Curtis Beasley

A 77-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with a hammer has become the 16th person executed this year in Florida  A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber.  Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of 1st-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed."  SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee | Christa Pike Requests Clemency Ahead of September 30 Execution Date; Experts’ Amicus Brief Points to ​‘Substantial Risk’ of Re-traumatization

Lawyers for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a 226-page clemen­cy peti­tion with Governor Bill Lee, ask­ing him to com­mute her death sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole ahead of her September 30 exe­cu­tion date. Ms. Pike’s clemen­cy peti­tion out­lines the case her team has built over decades of appeals: her actions at 18 years old can­not be sep­a­rat­ed from a child­hood marked by repeat­ed rape, sex­u­al abuse, and neglect that went unad­dressed by the adults and state sys­tems meant to pro­tect her. Once incar­cer­at­ed, Ms. Pike was diag­nosed with bipo­lar dis­or­der and post-trau­mat­ic stress disorder.
Post a Comment
Read more