MONTGOMERY, Ala.—The state asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an Alabama inmate who is trying to halt his lethal injection later this month by arguing officials lost paperwork in which he selected an alternate execution method.
The lawsuit by Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men in a workplace shooting in 1999, does not state a claim a judge could use to block the execution, set for Sept. 22, Attorney General Steve Marshall argued in a request filed Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker, in an order Thursday, gave the inmate until Monday to explain why Marshall’s motion shouldn’t be granted. In the meantime, the defense asked for a preliminary court order blocking Miller’s execution by lethal injection….