Article Summary
The state of Alabama has carried out the first execution in America using nitrogen gas, marking a new method of capital punishment in the country. Convicted murderer Kenneth Smith, 58, was executed over the objections of three liberal Supreme Court justices and despite concerns that the untested method could cause suffering. This was Alabama’s second attempt at executing Smith, following a failed lethal injection in 2022. Some experts have suggested that the use of nitrogen gas could become more widespread due to difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Alabama Conducts First Execution Using Nitrogen Gas
On Thursday evening, Alabama executed a convicted murderer, Kenneth Smith, 58, in what was the first use of nitrogen gas in an American execution. Despite the jury’s life-saving vote and intensive objections from the Supreme Court’s three liberal justices, the execution was authorized and carried out.
Smith was found guilty for participating in the murder of a woman, instigated by her husband, a pastor, in 1988. The execution protocol entailed strapping Smith to a gurney and pumping nitrogen into a mask on his head, causing oxygen deprivation, as detailed in the official document.
Contentions Surrounding the Execution
This execution, speculated to be the world’s first nitrogen execution, marked the second execution attempt on Smith. A previous lethal injection attempt in 2022 was unsuccessful due to the inability to find a suitable vein.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson voiced concerns about Alabama’s selection of nitrogen gas as the method of execution. They highlighted the experimental nature of the method and its potential for causing suffering and pain.
Employed in some assisted suicides in Europe, nitrogen hypoxia causes unconsciousness and heart stoppage within seconds. Smith’s lawyers argued that Alabama was ill-prepared for the execution and that the mask could let in enough oxygen to prolong Smith’s suffering or cause him to choke if he vomited.
Execution Deemed Lawful by Governor
Despite these concerns, Governor Kay Ivey announced the lawful execution via nitrogen hypoxia, the method requested by Smith as an alternative to lethal injection. She noted that this case can finally be closed as Smith got what he asked for.
Considerations for Future Executions
The unprecedented execution has the potential to influence other states facing drug acquisition issues for lethal injections. Mississippi and Oklahoma have already authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method. Alabama’s previous execution attempts have faced difficulties due to problems finding veins on the men to be executed.
Given these challenges, Alabama’s lethal injection method has been under review since 2022, and two men were executed via this method in 2023.
The Victim and the Murderers
The victim, Elizabeth Sennett, was stabbed 10 times in the murder orchestrated by her husband, Charles Sennett Sr. Charles arranged the murder in part for insurance money, promising $1,000 each to the hired killers. One of the other participants in the murder was executed by lethal injection in 2010, and the third was sentenced to life, dying in prison in 2020.
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