Two years after an Alabama prisoner was spared when staff members struggled to execute him by lethal injection, officials plan to try again Thursday — using the rare method of nitrogen gas.
He filed a federal lawsuit in March seeking to halt his execution, citing the state's past execution failures and concerns that the method of nitrogen hypoxia would add pain and prolong death.
"The resolution of this case confirms that Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane," Marshall said in a previous statement.
Alabama officials have insisted in court filings that nitrogen hypoxia is "painless because it causes unconsciousness in seconds" and death within minutes.
"Whether by lethal injection or nitrogen suffocation, the myth of the 'humane execution' is a lie fewer and fewer people believe," Foa said in a statement.
Persons:
Alan Eugene Miller, Miller, Kenneth Smith, gurney, Steve Marshall, I've, " Miller, Marshall, Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy, Terry Lee Jarvis, Smith's heaving, Maya Foa, Foa
Organizations:
Alabama, NBC News, Alabama Department of Corrections, Prosecutors
Locations:
Alabama, Atmore, South Carolina, Missouri, Birmingham, U.S, London