A group of former federal and state prosecutors is demanding that Alabama’s attorney general investigate the state’s recent nitrogen gas executions, calling them botched and describing one as torture.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday, the prosecutors cited the executions of Alan Miller, Demetrius Frazier, and Carey Grayson. During Miller’s execution on September 25, witnesses reported that he shook violently on the gurney for several minutes and took approximately 23 minutes to die. The Rev. Jeff Hood, Miller’s spiritual adviser and a witness, called it “the most violent thing I’ve ever seen.”
The Executions
Miller, 61, was convicted of a 1999 workplace shooting that killed three men. He was executed using nitrogen gas, the fourth person put to death by that method in Alabama and the sixth in the nation.
Frazier was executed in February 2025. Grayson was executed in November 2024. The prosecutors said Frazier and Grayson also appeared to suffer during their executions. Frazier appeared to gasp, shake, and convulse before dying, and Grayson appeared to “heave, cough, and choke.”
“These men appear to have been tortured to death,” the prosecutors wrote in their letter.
The Legal Fight
Multiple lawsuits are underway challenging the method. A federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit brought by Miller and other death row inmates who argued the state was experimenting on them. Earlier suits argued that executioners weren’t properly trained and that the state wasn’t providing adequate medical supervision.
The prosecutors said the state’s use of nitrogen gas was “rushed” and that officials ignored expert warnings about the risks. They also noted that at least two state officials expressed concerns before the executions that the method could cause prolonged suffering.
The Defendant’s Words
In his final statement, Miller said the state had prioritized “legal maneuvering” over justice.
“The state has prioritized legal maneuvering over justice, and Alabama’s relentless pursuit of my death has been more important than truth, fairness, or even the safety of the community,” he said.
The Bottom Line
A group of former prosecutors is demanding that Alabama’s attorney general investigate the state’s nitrogen gas executions, which they describe as botched and torturous. During Alan Miller’s September execution, witnesses said he shook for minutes and took 23 minutes to die. The prosecutors cite the executions of Miller, Frazier, and Grayson as evidence that the method causes prolonged suffering and that the state ignored expert warnings. Multiple lawsuits are ongoing.
My Opinion
The death penalty is supposed to be the ultimate punishment. It is not supposed to be torture. But what happened in Alabama is torture. Alan Miller shook violently for minutes. He took 23 minutes to die. A witness called it “the most violent thing I’ve ever seen.” That is not justice. That is cruelty dressed up as law.
When former prosecutors (aka people who spent their careers putting defendants behind bars) demand an investigation into how the state carries out executions, it tells you something is deeply wrong. These are not abolitionists. They are not activists. They are lawyers who believe in the system and are horrified by what the system has become.
Alabama says nitrogen gas is humane. The evidence says otherwise. If the state is going to execute people, it has an obligation to do so without inflicting gratuitous suffering. If it cannot meet that standard, it should not carry out the executions at all.
