My Crime Library

Sophia Koval Murders Grandmother In Florida

Sophia Koval is an alleged teen killer from Florida who has been charged with the murder of her Grandmother

According to police reports fourteen year old Sophia Koval would beat to death her eighty year old Grandmother Yevheniia Kova with the woman’s walker and a belt

Sophia Koval reportedly told her father that Yevheniia Kova had scratched her and she would attack the eighty year old woman in self defense

Sophia Koval would be arrested and has been charged with manslaughter. The fourteen year old will be tried as an adult meaning she could face life in prison

Sophia Koval News

A 14-year-old girl accused of killing her grandmother in Lauderdale Lakes after she allegedly said she struck the victim with a belt and helped her die will be charged as an adult, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Sofia Koval now faces a manslaughter charge in the May 23 killing of 79-year-old Yevheniia Koval, instead of the second-degree murder charge that she previously faced, prosecutors said in a statement.

The alleged beating happened at an apartment in the Pearl Condominiums on Northwest 41st Street. Authorities responded there after receiving a call about an unresponsive woman. They met Koval’s son, who said he’d gone to visit a friend from about 7 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. and left Koval with his 14-year-old daughter.

He said when he returned, he found Koval unresponsive on the floor with abrasions on her neck and bruising on her face, arms and legs, officials said.

According to an arrest report, the teen told her dad that her grandmother had scratched her, and she “struck the victim several times with a belt” to defend herself. She then started crying, saying “she was sorry for what she had done.”

Koval was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Koval’s death a homicide, and the teen was identified as a suspect and arrested.

In a redacted arrest report, the teenager allegedly told someone in Ukrainian that “the victim was already dying and that she had helped her die.” That person advised that the Ukrainian word the teen used did not have a good translation to English, but that was what she was saying.

According to the teen’s father, Sofia Koval had recently moved from Ukraine and was displaying “behavioral issues, which he believed are from the war she witnessed in Ukraine and her being separated from her mother,” an arrest report states. He had taken her phone on the day of the killing to discipline her.

The arrest report goes on to say that after the killing, the teen was “very agitated and appeared aggressive at times. She was also constantly moving around. At this time it appeared that Sofia Koval was suffering from a possible psychotic episode.” She was subsequently Baker Acted.

On her way to the Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center, Sofia Koval allegedly “made spontaneous utterances that she had killed her grandmother while her father was not at the residence” and “struck the partilion in the vehicle with her hand and caused a laceration.”

A redacted source in the report said the teen had never been diagnosed with a mental illness, but had been showing signs of aggression and being agitated. She had also not been eating or sleeping.

The redacted source also believed that the teen may have used her grandmother’s walker to hit her, because he noticed that a piece of the walker was broken.

Prosecutors formally filed the manslaughter charge against the teen on Tuesday, and she was moved from juvenile detention to the Broward County Jail where she will be held in protective custody, the state attorney’s office said.

A judge found probable cause for manslaughter and ordered her held without bond on Wednesday morning.

Though the maximum sentence for manslaughter is 15 years in prison, if convicted, the teen could be sentenced to juvenile sanctions.

“In the juvenile system, anyone found guilty and sentenced would have to be released after a maximum of three years and could only be kept under supervision in the community until age 21,” the state attorney’s office said. “Because she is not a U.S. citizen, she could be subject to deportation.”

In May, the victim’s son described his mother off-camera as faithful, humble and protective of her family.

“Because of the heinous nature of the crime and after considering everything presented by the defense so far, I believe it is appropriate that this case should be handled in adult court. We are considering all options and working closely with her attorneys at the Broward Public Defender’s Office to come up with an appropriate resolution that holds her accountable but also factors in her age and the circumstances of this offense,” State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a news release.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the Ukranian consulate on this case.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/14-year-old-charged-as-adult-in-killing-of-grandmother-in-lauderdale-lakes/3433353

Sophia Koval Sentencing

A 14-year-old girl accused of killing her 79-year-old grandmother in Lauderdale Lakes back in May was sentenced to a juvenile program after pleading no contest in the death, prosecutors said.

Sofia Koval entered the plea to a manslaughter charge in adult court Wednesday and was immediately sentenced to up to three years in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice maximum risk commitment program, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said.

After serving the maximum penalty in the program, she’ll be under community supervision until age 21, though it’s expected she’ll be transferred to federal custody for deportation to her native Ukraine because she is not a U.S. citizen, prosecutors said.

Koval was charged in the May 23 killing of 79-year-old Yevheniia Koval, who’d been found beaten to death.

He said when he returned, he found Koval unresponsive on the floor with abrasions on her neck and bruising on her face, arms and legs, officials said.

Yevheniia Koval was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The state attorney’s office said prosecutors met extensively with the victim’s family before agreeing to the teen’s change of plea, and said the victim’s son, who is also the teen’s father “fully supported the outcome and thanked the prosecution, defense and judge for how they had handled the case.”

The maximum penalty the teen had been facing was up to 15 years in adult prison.

The judge overseeing the case told Koval that if she violates any of the terms of her sentence in the future she will be sent back to him and could face that maximum 15-year sentence.

“Because of the heinous nature of the crime and after considering everything presented by the defense, I believe it is appropriate that this case was transferred to adult court and that juvenile sanctions were imposed,” Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in a statement Wednesday. “We considered all options and worked closely with the victim’s family and with the defense attorneys at the Broward Public Defender’s Office to come up with an appropriate resolution that holds her accountable but also factors in her age and the circumstances of this offense.”

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/14-year-old-sentenced-to-juvenile-program-in-killing-of-79-year-old-grandma/3458730

Terryon Thomas AKA Mr Prada Wanted For Murder

Terryon Thomas who is better known as Mr Prada on TikTok is wanted in Baton Rouge Louisiana for the questioning of the murder of therapist William Nicholas Abraham

According to police reports the body of William Nicholas Abraham was found on the side of the road wrapped up in a tarp. It is believed the victim died from blunt force injuries

Terryon Thomas was driving the victims vehicle when police attempted to pull him over. Thomas would take off from police

So far police have said that Terryon Thomas is wanted for questioning in the murder investigation of William Nicholas Abraham and has not at this point been charged with murder

UPDATE – Terryon Thomas was arrested in Texas

Terryon Thomas News

Law enforcement has arrested a “TikTok” personality wanted in the case of slain Baton Rouge mental health therapist Dr. Nick Abraham.

According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, Dallas police officers arrested Terryon Ishmael Thomas, 20, of Newellton, Louisiana, in Texas on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 1.

The suspect will now have to go before a judge in Texas for an extradition hearing. During that hearing, the judge will determine if the suspect should be returned to Louisiana to face charges in the warrant from the Baton Rouge Police Department.

The arrest warrant for Thomas lists his charges as aggravated criminal damage to property, resisting an officer, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Police said Thomas is a popular “TikTok” personality known as “Mr. Prada.”

The warrant did not include any charges related to Abraham’s death.

All of the charges were related to Thomas allegedly crashing the doctor’s stolen vehicle in Baton Rouge Monday afternoon as police tried to stop him along Sherwood Forest Boulevard. Police said the person inside that vehicle got out and ran off and was not apprehended. However, an officer later picked out Thomas from a photo lineup, the warrant states.

Abraham, 69, was violently attacked and his body was wrapped in a tarp and dumped alongside a highway in Tangipahoa Parish where it was discovered Sunday morning. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Gerald Sticker said.

Investigators believe Abraham was killed on Saturday but do not know where the homicide occurred.

A search of his apartment off of Corporate Boulevard in Baton Rouge did not show any signs of a crime being committed there, investigators said.

Monday evening, investigators released photographs of a “person of interest” in the case, saying the male in the photos was the last person known to have been driving Abraham’s car.

The photos came from a surveillance camera inside a store “in the Juban Crossing area,” investigators said.

Juban Crossing is a shopping center located off Interstate 12 in Livingston Parish. The images were captured on Sunday.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-STOP.

Family members say Abraham will be laid to rest in Mississippi next week.

https://www.wafb.com/2024/10/02/tiktok-personality-identified-person-interest-abraham-case-arrested

Terryon Thomas Arrested

The popular TikTok creator Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s deputies identified as a person of interest in the death of a Baton Rouge therapist on Sunday has been arrested in Dallas Tuesday.

The Baton Rouge Police Department tells WBRZ 20-year-old Terryon Thomas, known as “Mr. Prada,” was arrested by Dallas Police Tuesday night.

He was identified as a person of interest in the death of 69-year-old William Nicholas Abraham

http://www1.wbrz.com/news/tiktok-creator-connected-to-death-of-baton-rouge-therapist-arrested

Garcia White Execution Scheduled For Today

Garcia White is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on October 1 2024 for the murders of twin girls

According to court documents Garcia White would be convicted of the murders of Annette and Bernette Edwards, the sixteen year old girls were murdered along with their mother

Garcia White would also confess to the murders of Greta Williams who would be beaten to death and to the murder of Hai Pham

It was when Garcia White was being investigated for the murder of Hai Pham when officers learned he was responsible for the Edwards family murders

Garcia White would be convicted of the murders of Annette and Bernette Edwards and sentenced to death

White lawyers do not deny that their client is responsible for the murders however they are trying to get his death sentence overturned due to brain damage from football injuries and drug addictions

Garcia White Execution News

A Texas man linked to five killings and convicted of fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls more than three decades ago is facing execution on Tuesday evening.

Garcia White was condemned for the December 1989 killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were found in their Houston apartment.

White, 61, a former college football player who later worked as a fry cook, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. White would be the sixth inmate put to death in the U.S. in the last 11 days.

Testimony showed White went to the girls’ Houston home to smoke crack with their mother, Bonita, who also was fatally stabbed. When the girls came out of their room to see what had happened, White attacked them. Evidence showed White broke down the locked door of the girls’ bedroom. He was later tied to the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman.

“Garcia White committed five murders in three different transactions and two of his victims were teenage girls. This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for,” said Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston.

White’s lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution after lower courts previously rejected his petitions for a stay. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday denied White’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant him a 30-day reprieve.

His lawyers argued that Texas’ top criminal appeals court has refused “to accept medical evidence and strong factual backing” showing White is intellectually disabled.

The Supreme Court in 2002 barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities. Justices have wrestled with how much discretion to allow.

White’s lawyers also accused the Texas appeals court of not allowing his defense team to present evidence that could spare him a death sentence, including DNA evidence that another man also was at the crime scene and scientific evidence that would show White was “likely suffering from a cocaine induced psychotic break during his actions.”

White’s lawyers also argued he is entitled to a new review of his death sentence, alleging the Texas appeals court has created a new scheme for sentencing in capital punishment cases after a recent Supreme Court ruling in another Texas death row case.

“Mr. White’s case illustrates everything wrong with the current death penalty in Texas -– he has evidence that he is intellectually disabled which the (Texas appeals court) refuses to permit him to develop. He has significant evidence that could result in a sentence other than death at punishment but cannot present it or develop it,” White’s attorneys said in their petition to the high court.

In a filing to the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said White has not presented evidence to support his claim he is intellectually disabled. The filing also said White’s claims of evidence of another person at the crime scene and that cocaine use affected his actions have previously been rejected by the courts.

“White presents no reason to delay his execution date any longer. The Edwards family — and the victims of White’s other murders … deserve justice for his decades-old crimes,” the attorney general’s office said.

The deaths of the twin girls and their mother went unsolved for about six years until White confessed to the killings after he was arrested in connection with the July 1995 death of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham, who was fatally beaten during a robbery at his business. Police said White also confessed to fatally beating another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.

White would be the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, and the 19th in the U.S

https://apnews.com/article/texas-execution-garcia-white-76c56a0a76ab94991b2d2b77e3faaad8

Emmanuel Littlejohn Execution Scheduled For Today

Emmanuel Littlejohn is scheduled to be executed by the State of Oklahoma today, September 26 2024, unless the Governor steps in

According to court documents Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany would enter a convenience store where the manager Kenneth Meers was shot and killed.

Both Glenn Bethany and Emmanuel Littlejohn would be arrested for the robbery and murder

Glenn Bethany would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole

Emmanuel Littlejohn would be arrested and sentenced to death

Littlejohn has maintained over the years that he did participate in the robbery however Glenn Bethany was responsible for the murder

The Oklahoma parole board actually recommended clemency for Littlejohn however now it is in the Governors hands whether or not it is granted

_ Emmanuel Littlejohn was executed on September 26 2024

Emmanuel Littlejohn Case

Emmanuel Littlejohn has been waiting for months to find out whether he will die on Thursday or get to live. It’s been “the hardest thing I ever did.”

Littlejohn, 52, is set to be executed for the shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City in 1992. If Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declines to grant him clemency, Littlejohn will be the third inmate executed by the state this year and the 17th in the nation. He’s also one of five men the U.S. is executing in a six-day period, and he’s set to die just about eight hours before Alabama is expected to execute Alan Eugene Miller using nitrogen gas.

“I would say to the governor: Do what you think is the right thing,” Littlejohn told USA TODAY in a recent interview.

Littlejohn has admitted to his role in the robbery but has maintained that his accomplice was the one to pull the trigger, not him.

“I accept responsibility for what I did but not what they want me to accept responsibility for,” Littlejohn previously told USA TODAY. “They want me to accept that I killed somebody, but I haven’t killed somebody.”

In a rare move, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Littlejohn, whose legal team argued that the evidence in the case was unclear, especially who the triggerman was.

Still, Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said afterward that his office would still be arguing against clemency to the governor, calling Littlejohn a “violent and manipulative killer.”

Littlejohn was one of two robbers who took money from the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in south Oklahoma City on June 19, 1992. Littlejohn was 20 years old at the time.

Kenneth Meers, 31, was killed by a single shot to the face as he charged at the robbers with a broom. Witnesses differed on who fired the gun.

Clemency activists for Littlejohn pointed to witnesses who said the “taller man” was the shooter, referring to the other robber, Glenn Bethany. The state put forward court testimony from the survivors of the robbery who identified Littlejohn as the shooter during the clemency hearing.

Bethany was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1993.

Littlejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1994. A second jury in 2000 also voted for the death penalty at a resentencing trial. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the resentencing because of improper testimony from a jailhouse informant.

Prosecutors argued at the clemency hearing that the shooting was the result of a debt owed by Littlejohn and Bethany, who were selling drugs at the time.

Littlejohn had recently been released from prison after pleading guilty and being convicted of burglary, assault and robbery, according to the state’s anti-clemency packet.

During the clemency hearing, Littlejohn’s attorneys said the inmate’s childhood was influenced by his mother’s addictions and violent surroundings. The lawyers presented a video in which his mother admitted to using drugs throughout her pregnancy and during Littlejohn’s childhood, becoming sober after her son was sentenced to death.

“At the time of the robbery of the Root-N-Scoot, (Littlejohn’s) 20-year-old brain was still developing in crucial areas and, given his disadvantaged childhood including frequent exposure to violence and drugs, his brain was already vulnerable and less developed than the typical 20-year-old’s,” Littlejohn’s attorneys wrote in their clemency packet.

Littlejohn’s attorneys argued that he had used his time in prison to grow up and was now a positive role model for his daughter and grandchildren.

Littlejohn told USA TODAY in his most recent interview that his family gave him strength through the clemency process.

“When you’re in a position like this you find out who loves you and who really cares about you,” Littlejohn said.

Littlejohn told USA TODAY ahead of the clemency hearing that he sought the family’s forgiveness.

“I’ve had someone kill my cousin and her baby. They were put on death row and I wanted him to be executed,” Littlejohn said. “I understand their emotions and I pray for them. But I didn’t kill their son.”

Littlejohn reiterated his plea to the Meers family during his statement in the clemency hearing.

Hear me now, I’m sorry,” Littlejohn said. “Oklahoma, nor the Meers family, will be better by killing me.”

The Meers family is in favor of the state executing Littlejohn, describing Meers as a community-minded man who always helped those less fortunate than himself.

“I believe my mom died of a broken heart,” Bill Meers said about his brother during the clemency hearing. “I cannot and will not forgive this man for carelessly finding Kenny’s life meant nothing.

Littlejohn has been at the center of a clemency campaign led by the Rev. Jeff Hood, anti-death penalty activist who has witnessed seven executions in various states.

“I believe Emmanuel wasn’t the shooter but on a very basic level, before the parole board, you got ambiguity,” Hood previously told USA TODAY in an interview. “I believe that the district attorney and the prosecutors created a situation where it should be impossible to execute someone because you aren’t sure that the person that you’re executing is the actual shooter.”

The clemency movement has echoed the one for of Julius Jones, the only person sentenced to death to receive clemency since Governor Stitt lifted a moratorium on executions in 2020.

Central to Littlejohn’s appeal was a claim of prosecutorial misconduct. His attorneys complained the same prosecutor argued at the first trial that Bethany was the shooter and then argued at the subsequent trial that Littlejohn was the shooter.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/25/emmanuel-littlejohn-clemency-decision-execution/75002957007

Emmanuel Littlejohn Execution

Oklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday morning, despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt.

Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City. Littlejohn was the third inmate put to death by the state this year. He was 20 years old at the time the crime was committed.

During the robbery, the store owner, Kenneth Meers, 31, was shot in the face while trying to defend himself. Although Littlejohn admitted to his involvement in the robbery, he has maintained that his accomplice, Glenn Bethany, was the one who pulled the trigger. Bethany was sentenced to life without parole, while Littlejohn was sentenced to death.

“I committed a robbery that had devastating consequences,” Littlejohn said during the hearing. “But, I repeat, I did not kill Mr Meers.”

Littlejohn’s case has raised questions over conflicting evidence, with some witnesses pointing at Bethany as the shooter. His legal team argued against his execution, citing “inconsistent prosecutions” in his case. His lawyers also mentioned Littlejohn’s troubled childhood and underdeveloped brain at the time of the crime.

His team emphasized his personal growth in prison, where he has become a positive role model for his family.

“He was young and foolish,” Littlejohn’s mother, Ceily Mason, told KFOR. “He’s grown up and older, and he deserves a chance.”

Several jurors have admitted they mistakenly voted for the death penalty because they misunderstood the implications of a life without parole sentence.

During a hearing last month, Oklahoma’s pardon and parole board voted 3-2 to recommend the state’s governor, Kevin Stitt, spare Littlejohn’s life.

In 2021, the governor commuted the sentence of Julius Jones, who was convicted for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell, to life without the possibility of parole just a few hours before his execution. But no such decision was taken for Littlejohn.

Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, argued against clemency to the governor, calling Littlejohn a “violent and manipulative killer”.

Littlejohn had expressed remorse for the robbery and sought forgiveness from the victim’s family, who were still in favor of his execution. The family described Meers as a pillar of the community, and his brother, Bill Meers, expressed that he could not forgive Littlejohn for taking his brother’s life, according to the local news outlet Oklahoma Voice.

Anti-death penalty activists, including the Rev Jeff Hood, have rallied around Littlejohn’s case, expressing their concern over the uncertainty of whether he was the actual shooter.

The last few days have witnessed a slew of executions across the country. On Tuesday, Marcellus Williams, 55, and Travis Mullis, 38, were executed in Missouri and Texas, respectively. Alan Miller, 59, is also scheduled for execution in Texas on Thursday.

Last week, South Carolina executed Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah just days after the key witness for the prosecution came forward to say he had lied at trial and the state was putting to death an innocent man.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/oklahoma-man-execution-conflicting-evidence-emmanuel-littlejohn

Alan Eugene Miller Execution Scheduled For Today

The State of Alabama is getting ready to execute Alan Eugene Miller tonight, September 26 2024, for a triple murder that took place in 1999

According to court documents Alan Eugene Miller would murder Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis at two separate locations as Miller thought his coworkers were talking behind his back

Alan Eugene Miller would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama is planning to execute the triple killer by using nitrogen gas for only the second time. Since the use of nitrogen gas is relatively new there is still questions to how humane this method of execution is. Kenneth Smith was executed at the start of 2024 by this method

Alan Eugene Smith News

Alabama is preparing to carry out the nation’s second nitrogen gas execution on Thursday as disagreements continue over the humaneness of the new method of putting prisoners to death.

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, is scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas at a south Alabama prison. Miller was convicted of killing three men — Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis — in back-to-back workplace shootings in 1999.

Alabama in January put Kenneth Smith to death in the first nitrogen gas execution. The new execution method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the inmate’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.

Alabama officials and advocates have argued over whether Smith suffered an unconstitutional level of pain during his execution. He shook in seizure-like spasms for more than two minutes as he was strapped to the gurney. That was followed by several minutes of gasping breathing.

“Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said last month in announcing a lawsuit settlement agreement that allowed for Miller’s execution. The state has scheduled a third nitrogen execution for November.

But death penalty opponents and advocates for other inmates facing nitrogen execution maintain that what happened with Smith shows there are problems with, or at least questions about, the new execution method. They said the method should be scrutinized more before it is used again.

“The fact that the state scheduled two more nitrogen executions without publicly acknowledging the failures of the first one is concerning. Going through with a second in the world nitrogen execution without reassessing the first, and under a continued veil of secrecy is not how a transparent government operates,” John Palombi, an attorney with the Federal Defenders Program who is representing another inmate facing a nitrogen execution in November, wrote in an email.

Death penalty opponents on Wednesday delivered petitions asking Gov. Kay Ivey to halt the execution. Miller is one of five death row inmates scheduled to be put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend of decline in the use of the death penalty in the U.S.

Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted of capital murder for the shootings that claimed three lives and shocked the city of Pelham, a suburban city just south of Birmingham.

The Aug. 5, 1999, workday had begun normally, a witness testified, until Miller showed up armed with a handgun saying he was “tired of people starting rumors on me.”

Police say that early that morning Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises and shot and killed two coworkers: Holdbrooks, 32, and Yancy, 28. He then drove 5 miles (8 kilometers) away to Post Airgas, where he had previously worked, and shot Jarvis, 39.

All three men were shot multiple times. A prosecutor told jurors at the 2000 trial that the men “are not just murdered, they are executed.”

Miller had initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but later withdrew the plea. A psychiatrist hired by the defense said that Miller was mentally ill, but he also said Miller’s condition wasn’t severe enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense, according to court documents.

Jurors convicted Miller after 20 minutes of deliberation and voted he receive the death penalty.

Alabama had previously attempted to execute Miller by lethal injection. But the state called off the execution after being unable to connect an IV line to the 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate. The state and Miller agreed that any other execution attempt would be with nitrogen gas.

The state might be making minor adjustments to execution procedures. Miller had initially challenged the nitrogen gas execution plans, citing witness descriptions of what happened to Smith. But he dropped the lawsuit after reaching a settlement last month with the state.

Court records did not disclose the terms of the agreement, but Miller had suggested several changes to the state’s nitrogen gas protocol. Those included using medical grade nitrogen and a sedative beforehand. Will Califf, a spokesperson for Attorney General Marshall, last month said he could not confirm if the state had agreed to make changes to execution procedures.

Mara E. Klebaner, an attorney representing Miller, said last month that he “entered into a settlement on favorable terms to protect his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishments.”

https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-alabama-to-carry-out-the-2nd-nitrogen-gas-execution-in-the-us

Alan Miller Execution

Alabama has carried out the second execution in the US using the controversial method of nitrogen gas, an experimental technique for humans that veterinarians have deemed unacceptable in the US and Europe for the euthanasia of most animals.

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time at a south Alabama prison.

Miller shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints, followed by about six minutes of gasping, according to the Associated Press.

The lethal method involves being strapped down with a respirator mask applied to the face and pure nitrogen piped in. The resulting oxygen deprivation will cause death by asphyxia.

Miller’s final words were “I didn’t do anything to be in here” and “I didn’t do anything to be on death row”, according to reporters who witnessed his death. His voice was at times muffled by the mask that covered his face from forehead to chin.

Miller’s death is the latest in an extraordinary week in the US in which five condemned men in five states have been executed over six days. On Friday, South Carolina killed Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, in its first execution in 13 years, and on Tuesday, Texas killed Travis Mullis and Missouri put to death Marcellus Williams. Also on Thursday, Oklahoma executed Emmanuel Littlejohn.

The execution of Williams in Missouri prompted widespread outrage across the US and beyond after local prosecutors, the victim’s family and several trial jurors tried unsuccessfully to stop it from going ahead. There was no forensic evidence to tie Williams to the crime, and the current prosecuting attorney for St Louis county concluded that the prisoner was actually innocent.

Alabama pressed ahead with Miller’s execution on Thursday over the 1999 shootings that killed three of his co-workers – Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis – despite deep misgivings about the new nitrogen method.

“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims,” Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, said in a statement. “His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray that they can find comfort all these years later.”

The first nitrogen execution was carried out, also by Alabama, in January.

An eyewitness for the Associated Press described the death then of Kenneth Smith, 58. “Smith began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements … The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the straps holding him to the gurney. He lifted his head off the gurney and then fell back.”

Alabama described Smith’s death as a “textbook” execution.

Smith and Miller share a distinction in addition to the experimental killing method applied to them. Both men had the exceptionally unusual experience of surviving an execution attempt by lethal injection.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/alabama-nitrogen-gas-execution-alan-miller