nitrogen hypoxia

Alabama is set to carry out the nation’s second execution ever using nitrogen gas after becoming the first state to use the new procedure in January. Alan Miller is set to die by the process on Thursday, Sept. 26, in which a mask is placed over the inmate’s head that forces the inmate to inhale pure nitrogen.

Death row inmates in five separate states are set to be put to death in the span of one week. If carried out as planned, the executions in Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas will mark the first time in more than 20 years that five executions were held in seven days.

The state of Alabama is asking a judge to deny defense lawyers’ request to film the next execution by nitrogen gas in an attempt to help courts evaluate whether the new method is humane. The request to record the scheduled Sept. 26 execution of Alan Miller was filed by attorneys for another man facing the death penalty, Carey Dale Grayson.

Lawyers for an Alabama inmate, scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas this fall, argued in a court filing that the state has ignored problems with the method as it seeks to carry out more nitrogen executions.

Alabama's governor has set a November 21st execution date for what is scheduled to be the nation's third death sentence carried out by nitrogen gas. Republican Kay Ivey set the execution date for Carey Dale Grayson after the Alabama Supreme Court last week ruled that it could take place. Grayson was one of four teenagers convicted in the 1994 killing of 37-year-old Vickie Deblieux in Jefferson County.

A third person is set to be executed by nitrogen gas, Alabama authorized Wednesday, months after becoming the first state to put a person to death with the previously untested method.

Alabama’s attorney general says another nitrogen gas execution will go forward in September. The state on Monday reached a settlement agreement to end litigation filed by death row inmate Alan Miller who is slated to be the second person put to death with nitrogen gas.

Court filings are providing new details of what happened in the nation's first execution using nitrogen gas. Kenneth Smith was executed in Alabama on Jan. 25. A corrections officer said in a sworn statement that Smith had normal blood oxygen levels for longer than he expected.

Lawyers for an Alabama inmate asked a judge to block the nation's second scheduled execution using nitrogen gas, arguing the first was a "horrific scene" that violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Alabama has asked the state Supreme Court to authorize another execution using nitrogen gas. The request comes months after the state became the first to put a person to death with the previously untested method.