Two death row inmates were executed yesterday Thursday in the US, the first in Oklahoma by lethal injection and the second in Alabama by asphyxiation due to nitrogen inhalation, a method used for only the second time worldwide.

With these, the number of executions that have been carried out in the country this year increased to 18, five of which in the last few days, in a period of less than a week.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. In another six (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee) a moratorium is applied to its enforcement, by decisions of their governors.

Alan Miller’s Nitrogen Execution – The injection had failed

Alan Miller, sentenced to death in Alabama for the 1999 murders of three of his colleagues, Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancey and Terry Lee Jarvis, was killed in Atmore Prison by asphyxiation caused by nitrogen inhalation. He was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., according to a statement from authorities in Alabama.

A previous attempt to execute Miller by lethal injection, in September 2022, was canceled in extremis because there was difficulty in getting his intravenous injection done within the time limit provided by law.

The nitrogen execution method was used for the first time in the world in Alabama in January, in the case of Kenneth Eugene Smith. The UN has condemned it, as it considers it a form of “torture”.

“Lord Governor, don’t kill me for no reason”

Emanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma after being convicted of killing Kenneth Mears during a 1992 convenience store robbery.

Littlejohn insisted from the beginning that he denied that the shots that killed the victim were his.

“Mr. Governor, don’t kill me for no reason,” pleaded the death row inmate in the last interview he gave, which was broadcast last Wednesday by NPR public radio.

“Justice has been served for the murder of Kenny Mears,” state Attorney General Jendner Drummond said in a statement, adding that the victim’s family had “waited 32 endless years.”

Emanuel Littlejohn and his accomplice in the robbery, Glenn Bethany, were accused of the murder. Both were convicted in the case, but the accomplice was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while the alleged murderer was sentenced to life in prison. of penalties.