An Alabama man set to be put to death for violently killing an elderly couple two decades ago claims he is innocent.
Jamie Ray Mills, 50, is scheduled to be executed Thursday after the 11th Circuit Court of Criminal Appeals denied two defense motions seeking a delay. The death warrant runs for a 30-hour period from midnight Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, so the defense can still seek a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
Mills was convicted of capital murder in the 2004 beating deaths of Floyd Hill, 87, and his wife Vera Hill, 72, at their home in Guin, about 70 miles 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," The Associated Press reported. At the time, Mills had been out of a job and was thousands of dollars behind on child support payments. Prosecutors alleged Mills wanted money and drugs from the Hills.
According to the AP, Mills' wife JoAnn testified that they went to the Hills' home after smoking methamphetamine all night and that she saw her husband repeatedly strike the couple in their backyard shed. The Mills were arrested after physical evidence from the crime, including the murder weapons, was found in the trunk of their car.
Since his arrest, Mills has maintained his innocence. He claims he was framed by a drug dealer who was arrested the night of the killings with the victims' pills and a large amount of cash, per the AP.
Mills argues he was illegally convicted because the prosecution failed to disclose a deal with his wife, who was facing similar charges. Under the deal, JoAnn Mills was spared the death penalty for testifying against her husband and received life with parole after pleading to a reduced charge of murder.
Mills filed a separate motion, alleging that he would be subjected to unnecessarily prolonged torture on the execution gurney in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The court denied Mills' motions, saying evidence connects him to the crime even without his wife's testimony. His concerns of unnecessary cruelty were also dismissed.
Mills would be the sixth person executed in the U.S. this year and the second in Alabama following the January death of Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was the first inmate ever to be put to death by nitrogen gas. Mills faces lethal injection.