Alabama executes man by lethal injection for murders of an elderly couple in 2004

ATMORE, Ala. — An Alabama death row inmate was executed Thursday evening at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.

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Jamie Ray Mills, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. Thursday, according to The Associated Press. He was administered a three-drug injection.

Mills was convicted of capital murder for the deaths of Floyd Hill, 87, and Vera Hill, 72, according to the AP. The Hills were attacked on June 24, 2004, with a machete, a hammer and a tire iron in their house in Marion County, Alabama, prosecutors said, according to AL.com. Mills then stole prescription medication and cash.

One of the Hills’ adult grandchildren stopped by the house to check on them the night they were killed and was unable to find them, AL.com reported. The couple was found later in their shed by police. Floyd Hill was pronounced dead at the scene. Vera Hill was transported to the hospital with serious injuries and died months later on Sept. 12, 2004.

“Almost 20 years ago, the grandchildren of Floyd and Vera Hill, worried for their grandparents, filed a missing-person report only for police to discover the couple had been brutally and horrendously beaten to death. The Hills’ lives were taken at the hands of Jamie Mills. The evidence in this case is overwhelming, and Mr. Mills is undoubtedly guilty,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in announcing Mills’ execution, according to AL.com. “Tonight, two decades after he committed these murders, Jamie Mills has paid the price for his heinous crimes. I pray for the victims and their loved ones as they continue to grieve.”

He fought his execution in two different federal lawsuits. In those lawsuits he claimed his former wife lied when she testifying. He also challenged Alabama’s lethal injection protocol, AL.com reported.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block Mills’ execution on Thursday, the AP reported.

Mills’ last meal was a seafood platter with three large shrimp, two catfish filets, three oysters, three onion rings and a stuffed crab, AL.com reported.

He was the first inmate to be executed in Alabama since it executed its first inmate using nitrogen gas, the AP reported. Alabama was the first state in the country to do so, however, Alabama continues to use lethal injection as its main execution method, according to the AP. Many inmates request gas or the electric chair.

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