Warning: Distressing
A man who brutally attacked and killed an elderly couple in cold blood back in 2004 has been put to death.
Jamie Ray Mills, 50, was executed via lethal injection on Thursday at an Alabama prison after spending 20 years sitting on death row.
He is the first person to be put to death at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility since the controversial nitrogen gas execution of another inmate back in January.
Lethal injection remains the state’s default execution method unless a condemned inmate specifically requests death via nitrogen gas or the electric chair.
Witnesses stated that Mills gave a “thumbs up” to his family members, who were watching his death from another room, and later mouthed the words “I love you” in their direction.
He was then given a chance for a final statement. He did not express remorse for his actions during this time.
“I love my family. I love my brother and sister. I couldn’t ask for more,” Mills said, while also thanking his lawyer, Charlotte Morrison of the Equal Justice Initiative.
“Charlotte, you fought hard for me. I love y’all.”
The last two words he said were “carry on.”
The first execution drug – a sedative – then flowed into his veins, which saw him quickly lose consciousness. His spiritual adviser prayed at the foot of his gurney.
Seven minutes later, a “consciousness check” was conducted by a guard, who confirmed Mills was still taking “very shallow breaths”.
Some of Mills’ relatives were softly crying through the execution, witnesses said.
Two minutes later, he stopped breathing. Mills was pronounced dead at 6:26pm.
His last meal was a decadent seafood feast, including three large shrimp, two catfish fillets, three oysters, three onion rings and one stuffed crab, the Montgomery Adviserreported.
“Tonight, two decades after he committed these murders, Jamie Mills has paid the price for his heinous crimes,” Alabama Governer Kay Ivey said in a statement.
“I pray for the victims and their loved ones.”
Members of the victims’ family who witnessed the execution stated that “justice had been served” after two decades of waiting.
“Our family now can have some closure to this heinous crime that he committed and our loving grandparents can rest in peace,” they said.
“Let this be a lesson for those that believe justice will not find you.
“Hopefully, this will prevent others from committing future crimes. God help us all.”
The Equal Justice Initiative, who have supported Mills, stated that prosecutors had “lied, deceived and misrepresented the reliability of the evidence against Jamie Mills for 17 years.”
“There will come a day when governments recognise the perverse injustice of this process and the wrongfulness of this punishment,” they said after the execution.
“It will be a day that is too late for Jamie Mills which makes his death tragically regrettable and mournfully unjust.”
However, Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshall stated that there was a trove of evidence against Mills.
“His actions were cold and calculated, and his assigned punishment has never been more deserved,” he said.
Mills has always maintained his innocence.
Unthinkable crime
Mills was convicted of capital murder for the 2004 deaths of elderly couple Floyd Hill, 87, and his wife Vera, 72. He was sentenced to death in 2007.
The couple were viciously attacked inside their homes and bludgeoned with a hammer, machete and tyre tool.
To earn some extra cash and keep themselves busy, the couple often held garage sales and spent a lot of time with their beloved grandchildren. who made a habit to check on them due to their old age.
On June 24, 2004, the couple’s daughter and granddaughter grew concerned when they were not answering their phone, according to USA Today.
When they failed to answer the front door, the women called the police.
After authorities could also not gain access to the home, they inspected the property.
One officer noticed that the couple’s bed was still made, Vera’s walker was in the living room and Floyd’s alarm clock was still going off.
Walking towards their shed, one police officer saw it was padlocked. Standing on a bench to get a better look, he was met with a horrific sight.
Floyd and Vera were laying in pools of their own blood and had suffered terrible injuries to their heads and faces.
Incredibly, Vera’s arm moved ever so slightly. She was still alive.
“Let me out of here,” she managed to say, as her dead husband lay beside her.
Although Vera managed to survive the brutal attack, she passed away two months later due to complications from her injuries on September 12, 2004.
“The head injuries Vera Hill received were life-threatening and she would have died within hours of receiving the injuries if she had not received the type of medical attention she did,” according to testimony from Sherry Melton, a trauma surgeon at University of Alabama Hospital.
Both Floyd and Vera’s cause of death was listed as blunt and sharp force trauma to the head and neck.
In the last weeks of her life, Vera struggled greatly and the only word she could ever say was “Floyd”, according to court records.
Jamie Mills was convicted of the crime largely based on the testimony of his then-wife, JoAnn Mills.
She claimed that they had spent the night together before the killings smoking methamphetamine. They had gone to the Hills’ residence and asked to use their phone.
The elderly couple obliged and even began showing them their garage sale items when JoAnn claims her husband attacked and killed them.
Prosecutors state that robbery was the motive, claiming Mills made off with just USD$140 (AUD$210) and a few prescription pills.
His lawyer argued that he did not deserve to get the death penalty for many reasons, one of them being that he had two then-teenage sons.
“By being alive and actually being a dad to them, even if it’s a long-distance dad, he can maybe show them where he went wrong and keep them from going down the same path,” he said.
Defence lawyer Jack Bostick told jurors that Mills’ crimes were “wrong, immoral and barbaric”.
“You have got two elderly people, retired, having a yard sale, had it going on for about a week, he said, according to court documents.
“Somebody comes by under the guise of using their phone and sits there and keeps acting like he’s making phone calls, getting the courage up.
“It’s almost beyond imagination that anyone could be that cruel to another human being, to have that done to them. The Hills didn’t have a chance.”
