An inmate named Alan Eugene Miller has become the second person in the US to be executed using the controversial method known as 'nitrogen hypoxia.' The method is criticized on the grounds that death row inmates are subjected to 'torture' during the execution.
The 59-year-old Miller was strapped to a gurney last night and executed by being administered nitrogen gas through a mask placed over his face.
According to a reporter permitted to witness the nitrogen gas execution method, Miller continued to shake and convulse on the gurney for approximately two minutes. Miller also experienced breathing difficulties for about six minutes before dying.
Maintaining his innocence until the very end, Miller used his final words behind the mask covering his face to state, 'I didn't do anything to be here.' Miller had been found guilty of killing three people.
Alan Eugene Miller, Source: Alabama Department of Corrections
IS THE NITROGEN GAS EXECUTION METHOD TORTURE?
In this execution method, used for the second time in Alabama, the inmate is made to inhale nitrogen gas until all oxygen in their body is depleted.
While experts describe the method in question as 'cruel, painful, and torturous,' the United Nations (UN) also defines this form of execution as 'nothing less than state-sanctioned torture.'
Miller was sentenced to death in 2000 for killing three people in 1999.
Another inmate in Alabama was executed using the same method for the first time on January 25.
Alabama is the only state in the US that uses nitrogen hypoxia for the death penalty. The nitrogen gas execution method has also been authorized in the states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, but it has not yet been used in executions there.
News Source: AA
