Alabama Department of Corrections

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Last week, attorneys for Smith filed a lawsuit against the prison system, saying that the state violated the U.S. Constitution, various court orders and its own lethal injection protocol during the botched execution attempt earlier this month. Smith's attorneys are asking a federal judge to forbid the state from making a second attempt to execute him, saying Smith was already "subjected to ever-escalating levels of pain and torture" on the night of the failed execution.

Kenneth Eugene Smith
Kenneth Eugene Smith
Alabama also called off the 2018 execution of Doyle Lee Hamm for the same reasons. He reached an agreement with the state that prevented further execution attempts, although he remained on death row. He later died of natural causes.

Prison officials blamed time constraints, specifically the midnight deadline, for the three halted executions.

The state's July execution of Joe Nathan James was telegram database carried out, but only after a three-hour delay caused at least partly by the same problem with accessing an IV line.

Alabama executes inmate convicted in girlfriend's 1994 murder
An undated photo of Joe Nathan James Jr., who was convicted of murder in the 1994 shooting death of his ex-girlfriend.
Alabama Department of Corrections
Last week Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced a pause on executions in order to review the procedures. The Republican governor cited concern for victims' families.

Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of a 1999 workplace rampage in which he killed Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy.

The settlement agreement likely prevents another execution attempt in the near future as Alabama has not announced procedures for using nitrogen hypoxia, and there will be litigation over the humaneness of the method before a state tries to use it.