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#Post#: 634--------------------------------------------------
~ Jamie R. Mills, 30May24, (AL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: May 23, 2024, 10:16 am
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Timing of Alabama inmate Jamie Mills’ lethal injection lawsuit
‘inexplicable and inexcusable’: Judge--
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024
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The United States courthouse for the Middle District of Alabama
in Montgomery
Another federal judge has rejected a request by Alabama inmate
Jamie Ray Mills to stay his execution, writing the inmate’s
lawyers’ delay in seeking a preliminary injunction was
“inexplicable and inexcusable.”
“The practice of filing lawsuits and requests for stay of
execution at the last minute where the facts were known well in
advance is ineffective, unworkable, and must stop,” said Chief
U.S. District Judge Emily Marks of Montgomery.
The lethal injection of Mills is set for 6 p.m. on May 30 at
William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, in south
Alabama. Mills, 50, has been fighting to get a stay of execution
in two separate federal lawsuits. Another federal judge, Scott
Coogler, denied his request on Friday in a separate case.
On Tuesday, Marks also denied Mills’ ask for a stay. In that
case, Mills’ lawyers from the Equal Justice Initiative had
argued the execution could be “torturous.”
Mills’ lawyers had asked the judge to issue a stay of execution
or to prohibit the state from doing several things: putting him
on the gurney while his lawsuits are still pending, restraining
him on the gurney “without legitimate reason,” not letting his
lawyers in the execution chamber while his intravenous lines are
set up, and denying his lawyers access to a phone line while
inside the prison.
At a hearing in the case last week, Alabama Department of
Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said Mills would not be taken
to the execution chamber if a stay was in place, and that Mills
would be removed from the execution chamber if one was issued.
“These assurances did not assuage Mills’ concerns about his
upcoming execution, and accordingly, he still seeks the
injunctive relief requested in his motion,” wrote the judge.
Marks wrote that Mills showed an “inexcusable delay” that
“weighs heavily against the equitable remedy of an injunction or
stay.” Some of his claims “should have been brought several
years ago,” she wrote.
“Since 2022, many events have occurred which should have
triggered action by Mills, and yet he did not act,” the judge
wrote, citing the aborted lethal injection attempts of Alan
Miller and Kenneth Smith in the fall of 2022, and the
controversial execution of Joe Nathan James that summer.
“A reasonably diligent plaintiff likely could and should have
filed suit after Kenneth Smith’s execution attempt in November
2022, as that was the third lethal injection execution or
attempted execution which allegedly involved the condemned
inmate being strapped to the gurney for an extended period,” the
judge wrote.
She continued that after the last few inmates in Alabama were
executed, and after other movement in Mills’ various appeals,
Mills’ lawyers “still did nothing” and “offers no reasonable
explanation” as to why.
Marks also mentioned that the state has “made meaningful
changes” to its lethal injection process, including replacing
the IV team.
“The Court acknowledges that lawyers representing death row
inmates set to be executed unquestionably owe a duty to their
clients. However, these lawyers are also officers of the court,”
the judge wrote.
“The act of filing a civil action and then a request for
injunctive relief after unjustified delay often appears to be
legal manipulation rather than genuine legal advocacy.”
8)
#Post#: 635--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Jamie R. Mills, 30May24, (AL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: May 30, 2024, 3:37 am
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After nation's 1st nitrogen gas execution, Alabama set to give
man lethal injection for 2 slayings--
Thursday, May 30th, 2024
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — 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.
Mills, 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.
Floyd Hill died from blunt and sharp-force wounds to the head
and neck and Vera Hill about 12 weeks later from complications
of head trauma, the attorney general’s office wrote in a court
filing. Vera Hill was largely unable to talk after the slayings
other than to call out for her husband, according to court
documents.
At the time, Mills had recently quit a job as an auto mechanic
at a gas station where his boss described him as a “hard
worker.” He was over $10,000 behind in child support for his two
sons, was upset over his parents' failing health and had
relapsed into drug use, court documents added.
JoAnn Mills became the key witness against her common-law
husband. She testified that after staying up all night smoking
methamphetamine, her husband told her they were going to see a
man about some money and she should follow his lead at the
house. Once at the home, she testified, she saw her husband
repeatedly strike the couple in the backyard shed, according to
court documents.
A jury convicted Jamie Mills of capital murder and voted 11-1
for the death sentence, which a judge imposed. JoAnn Mills had
also been charged with capital murder, but after testifying
against her husband, she pleaded to a reduced charge of murder
and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. She
remains incarcerated.
The final appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court focused on
arguments that the prosecution failed to disclose a deal with
JoAnn Mills and challenges to the state’s lethal injection
protocol. JoAnn Mill’s trial attorney, Tony Glenn, wrote in a
February affidavit that before the 2007 trial, he met with the
district attorney, who agreed to let her plead guilty to a
lesser charge if she testified. On the stand JoAnn Mills said
she was only hoping to gain “some forgiveness from God" by
testifying.
“The state of Alabama plans to execute Jamie Mills by lethal
injection on May 30 despite new evidence that prosecutors
obtained his conviction illegally by falsely telling the judge
and jury they had not made a deal with the State’s star
witness,” the Equal Justice Initiative, representing Mills,
wrote on its website.
The state asked the court to let the execution proceed and
argued that the district attorney and investigator maintain
there was no plea deal. They said other evidence also connects
him to the crime.
“The jury that decided Mills’s fate heard copious inculpatory
evidence, including that the murder weapons were found in his
trunk alongside a pair of pants with his name on them, covered
in the blood of one of the victims,” the state wrote.
Attorneys for Mills argued the trunk was unlocked and that the
items could have been put there by someone else. They noted the
murder weapons had unidentified DNA on them. Without JoAnn Mills
testimony, his attorneys wrote, the state’s case against Mills
“was consistent with Mr. Mills’ theory of defense that he was
framed” by a drug dealer arrested the night of the killings with
the victims’ pills and a large amount of cash.
8)
#Post#: 636--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Jamie R. Mills, 30May24, (AL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: June 1, 2024, 4:06 pm
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Death row inmate Jamie Mills enjoys lavish final meal before
execution in Alabama--
Saturday, June 1st, 2024
On his last day, a death row prisoner had a grand breakfast and
an opulent seafood dinner before his execution by lethal
injection. The Alabama Department of Corrections went all out
for Jamie Mills' final meals on Thursday, serving up everything
from eggs, gravy, and biscuits to an extravagant seafood platter
at the William C Holman Correctional Facility, where he'd been
on death row for 20 years.
Mills tucked into a breakfast of eggs, gravy, prunes, oatmeal,
and biscuits. He spent his final hours with his brother, sister,
their partners, his spiritual adviser, and his attorney,
enjoying snacks like crisps, a chocolate bar, Sunkist, and cola
drinks, as per Al.com. For his final feast, Mills savored a
seafood platter that included three jumbo shrimp, two pieces of
catfish, three oysters, three onion rings, and a stuffed crab,
detailed by the local news source.
At 6 pm CDT, Mills was secured to a gurney, IV lines were
placed, and he received a lethal injection. His time of death
was declared at 6:26 pm. Mills' parting words were heartfelt: "I
love my family. I love my brother and sister. I couldn't ask for
more," reports The Mirror.
He showed appreciation for his defense lawyer, Charlotte
Morrison from the Equal Justice Initiative, with the words,
"Charlotte, you fought hard for me." His final sentiment was, "I
love y'all. Carry on."
As the deadly mix flowed through his body, leading him into a
sadness that he would never awaken from, Mills gave a last "I
love you" to his family, his face peering through the glass pane
of the room next door. Throughout this ordeal, he kept lifting
his thumb in a bid to assure them.
At age 50, he faced his end on death row, following his
conviction for a brutal double murder back in 2004, for which he
was sentenced in 2007. His victims were Floyd and Vera Hill,
both aged 87 and 72 at that time. They lived peacefully in Guin,
which is a provincial community about 80 miles removed from
Birmingham, Alabama.
He was sentenced for killing them ruthlessly with a hammer, tire
iron, and machete, before pocketing $140 and some prescription
drugs - all just to fuel his drug addiction. Floyd, known for
taking care of his diabetic wife, locked away her medicines
inside a tackle box in their kitchen. He organized yard sales
regularly to support their livelihood.
A grandchild not being able to get a hold of them raised some
alarming red flags, resulting in an immediate welfare check by
the police. What they discovered shocked them: the couple were
lying in a pool of blood in their own backyard shed.
Terribly, Floyd had already passed away due to the violent
assault. Vera, suffering severe brain injuries, fought for her
life for another 12 weeks but failed to overcome these massive
injuries.
Mills maintained his innocence right up to his execution.
Despite numerous appeals, one of which went as far as the
Supreme Court, Mills faced his end.
After the execution, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey stated, "Tonight,
two decades after he committed these murders, Jamie Mills has
paid the price for his heinous crime. I pray for the victims and
their loved ones as they continue to grieve."
This incident represents Alabama's second execution following
that of Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was executed using nitrogen
gas in late January, marking the first execution by this method.
8)
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