An Alabama man convicted of killing three people in a 1999 workplace shooting was spared the death penalty at the 11th hour Thursday because his executioner couldn’t find a vein for the lethal injection.

Alan Miller’s execution was called off about 11:30 p.m. when prison officials decided the vein issue would keep them from meeting the midnight deadline, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said. …

A federal judge Friday ordered Alabama to preserve evidence related to the execution – and to give Miller’s lawyers access to him, AL.com reported.

The state “shall make immediate efforts to locate and preserve evidence concerning the attempted execution, including but not limited to notes, emails, texts, and used medical supplies such as syringes, swabs, scalpels, and IV-lines,” Judge Austin Huffaker wrote in the order.