Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 2.28.24
The Attorney General has asked for execution dates for Jamie Mills and Keith Gavin by lethal injection. We will keep you posted once a date has been set.
A week ago the Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's office asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller. The state said Miller’s execution would be carried out using nitrogen. This is the second execution date as Mr. Miller survived a botched and very painful execution attempt. Now the state plans to use nitrogen hypoxia which to quote a lawsuit "The results of the first human experiment are now in and they demonstrate that nitrogen gas asphyxiation is neither quick nor painless, but agonizing and painful," “Alabama Should Not Be Allowed to Carry Out Another Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution” by Austin Sarat also addresses the cruelty of this form of State murder. And to quote the Rev. Jeff Hood: “Spiritual advisor who witnessed Kenneth Smith’s horrific execution from nitrogen hypoxia; “Anyone who claims that this was anything short of torture is not just mistaken, they are a dangerous liar.”
We appreciated the article in the Atlanta Magazine about Dr. Joel Zivot “Why an Emory physician built a second career as a death penalty expert” who a couple of years ago did us the great honor of joining our Advisory Board. The article closes with a quote from Dr. Zivot “The responsibility of the privileged is to roll up their sleeves and try to make the world better.” Indeed!
We thank our Advisory Board Member Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy for lifting us up during a speech on death penalty abolition at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Huntsville. We could not have had a better representative!
We are working on the next edition of our quarterly newsletter, Wings of Hope. Articles were due last week and now the typing begins!
We observed a moment of silence for our brothers in Texas and Idaho who are to be executed today.
We thank all who are working so hard and diligently to stop all killing in Alabama! And as always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. Stay safe and be kind to each other!
Esther
