A U.S. federal judge on Monday blocked the execution of a death row inmate in Alabama who has said the state lost his paperwork requesting an alternative to lethal injection.
Alan Miller said he requested execution by inhaling nitrogen hypoxia, an untested method which Alabama allows but has never used.
His execution was scheduled for Thursday at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He accused the state of violating his constitutional rights by failing to honor his preferred method of execution, and asked the judge to block the execution.
Miller has said that in 2018 he marked a state form to elect his preferred method. The state, the defendants in the case, claim they have no record of Miller’s form in their files, according to court filings (pdf)….