Alabama
Alabama Carries Out First Nitrogen Gas Execution In The U.S. That Critics Have Called Inhumane
Topline
Alabama executed a death row inmate using nitrogen gas Thursday, marking the first time a convict was put to death in the U.S. using a method critics have called experimental, inhumane and a potential breach of international conventions against torture.
Anti-death penalty activists place signs along the road heading to Holman Correctional Facility in … [+]
Key Facts
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, who had been sentenced to death for a 1988 murder, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m., a state corrections official said in a press conference on Thursday night.
Smith’s execution was carried out by strapping him to a gurney and using a mask that would force him to breathe nitrogen gas and deprive him of oxygen.
According to a pool of reporters who attended the execution, the Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes and “visibly shook and writhed against the gurney” after the gas was pumped into the mask.
Despite the state’s earlier claims that the nitrogen execution would cause almost immediate unconsciousness, the reporters said the gas began flowing at 7:58 p.m. local time, while he appeared to stop breathing ten minutes later at 8:08 p.m.
Corrections officials told reporters Smith may have been “holding his breath as long as he could” and said his struggling against the restraints was “an involuntary movement.”
While delivering his final statement, Smith said: “Tonight, Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards.”
Key Background
Smith had remained on death for over 30 years after being convicted for his involvement in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in 1988. Sennett, who was a pastor’s wife, was beaten and stabbed to death at her home in Colbert County, Alabama. Smith confessed to his involvement in the murder and was paid $1,000 for it. He survived an earlier execution attempt by lethal injection in November 2022. The “botched” execution attempt saw Smith being jabbed multiple times, causing him extreme pain. After failing to proceed with the lethal injection route, Alabama officials decided to execute Smith using the nitrogen gas method.
Tangent
Earlier this month a federal judge ruled Alabama would be allowed to proceed with the execution via nitrogen. On Wednesday, Smith’s appeal to delay the execution was rejected by the Supreme Court and a day later the top court also rejected his request for a stay on the execution—with three justices dissenting.
Crucial Quote
Lee Hedgepeth, one of the reporters who witnessed the execution told the New York Times: “This was the fifth execution that I’ve witnessed in Alabama, and I have never seen such a violent reaction to an execution.”
Chief Critic
“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its “guinea pig” to test a method of execution never attempted before,” Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor said in her dissenting opinion on Thursday’s ruling.
Further Reading
Judge Rules Alabama Can Carry Out Nation’s First Execution Via Nitrogen Gas (Forbes)
U.S. Should Halt First Planned Execution By Nitrogen Gas, UN Experts Say (Forbes)