After nation’s 1st nitrogen gas execution, Alabama set to give man lethal injection for 2 slayings
Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday who was convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140.
MONTGOMERY, Ala — Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday evening who was convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140 from their home.
Jamie Ray Mills, 50, is scheduled to put to death Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. It will be Alabama’s first execution since the state conducted the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas in January. Lethal injection remains the state’s main execution method unless an inmate has requested nitrogen.
Mills was convicted of capital murder in the 2004 slayings of Floyd Hill, 87, and his 72-year-old wife Vera Hill in Guin, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Birmingham. Prosecutors said Mills and his wife went to the couple’s home where he attacked the couple with a hammer, tire tool and machete.
Jamie Ray Mills.Alabama Dept. of Corrections via AP fileMills, who maintained his innocence at his 2007 trial, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. His attorneys argued newly obtained evidence shows the prosecution lied about having a plea agreement with Mills’ wife to spare her from the death penalty if she testified against her husband. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the justices to let the execution proceed, arguing there’s no question about Mills’ guilt.
Floyd Hill was the primary caregiver for his wife, who was diabetic and in poor health. He kept her medications in a tacklebox in the couple’s kitchen. The Hills regularly held yard sales to supplement their income. When the couple’s granddaughter couldn’t reach them, responding officers found them in pools of blood in the backyard shed where they stored items for yard sales.
Rating: 5