Alabama is asking for another shot at executing Alan Eugene Miller, who didn’t die on his execution date last month because the state ran out of time to execute him.

Miller, 57, was set to be executed on Sept. 22 by the state of Alabama for his August 5, 1999 shooting spree that left three men dead at two businesses in Shelby County. But the lethal injection execution was called off minutes before midnight, when the state’s death warrant was set to expire.

The execution was called off at approximately 11:30 p.m. because Miller’s veins couldn’t be accessed within execution protocol time limits, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told reporters gathered at the prison system media center.

An attorney with the Alabama Supreme Court confirmed that the Alabama Attorney General’s Office has requested another execution date. The court has yet to issue an order.

Hamm said after Miller’s execution was called off, “Due to the time constraints resulting in the lateness of the court proceedings, the execution was called off once it was determined the condemned’s veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol before the expiration of the death warrant.”

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling just after 9 p.m., giving the state nearly three hours to conduct the execution before the death warrant expired.

Hamm said the execution team did start trying to access Miller’s veins to insert the intravenous lines for the three-drug lethal injection cocktail, but he isn’t sure how long the team worked to try to access a vein. “I’m not sure… I wasn’t looking at that. We were more focused on the time that the court, the Supreme Court, sent their order. Before we start accessing veins, we have other things we have to do that take time.”

When pressed what was being done during that nearly three-hour period, Hamm would not elaborate. “Like I said, there are several things that we have to do before we even start accessing the veins. And that was taking a little bit longer than we anticipated.”

A federal judge has ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence from the failed execution.