Alabama halts Alan Miller's execution after it began, saying there wasn't time to finish it before a deadline

Atmore, Ala. — Alabama officials called off the Thursday lethal injection of a man convicted in a 1999 workplace shooting because of time concerns and trouble accessing the inmate's veins.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said prison officials called off the execution after they determined inmate Alan Miller's "veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol" before a midnight deadline to get the execution underway.

Miller has been returned to his cell at the south Alabama prison, Hamm said.