SCOTUS lets Alabama execution continue without lawyer in the death chamber

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to pause an Alabama execution to review whether the state’s procedures violate the Constitution.

After several botched executions in Alabama, Jamie Mills told the justices that his attorney needed to be in the death chamber to make sure the state didn’t violate his Eighth Amendment rights. 

“Currently, the risk of unnecessary torture is elevated in the State of Alabama,” Charlotte Morrison, Mills’ attorney wrote in his petition. “Five of the last six executions have been marked by unnecessary and prolonged suffering.” 

Alabama’s executions have been plagued by issues establishing IV access, an essential step to carry out a lethal injection. It took prison officials three hours to establish Joe Nathan James Jr.’s IV line, marking the longest execution in history. 

Only months later, the state had to abandon an attempt to execute Alan Miller after the IV team failed to establish access. Miller was punctured for 90 minutes until the execution was abandoned. 

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions in the state after Kenneth Smith’s botched execution in 2022. Smith was repeatedly jabbed with needles while strapped to a gurney for four hours. Earlier this year, Smith was executed in the nation's first oxygen deprivation execution. 

Mills said Alabama’s history with botched executions warranted having his lawyer in the death chamber with a way to access the courts. 

“There is no way to establish that what occurs is constitutional or humane otherwise,” Morrison wrote.

Mills was sentenced to death for the 2004 robbery-murder of Floyd and Vera Hill. After attacking the elderly couple with a hammer and machete, Mills stole medication, money, a phone and a police scanner from their home. 

Alabama told the Supreme Court that an execution stay was unnecessary because the state was not going to leave Mills restrained for an extended period while litigation was ongoing. The state said this assurance negated the need for counsel in the chamber. 

“Even if Mills had a reasonable fear, the State’s interests in the safety, security, and solemnity of its executions would still justify excluding the condemned’s attorneys from the room,” Lauren Simpson, Alabama’s assistant attorney general, wrote in the state’s brief. 

The court did not explain its decision to deny Mills' application. There were no noted dissents.

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