Alabama seeks to pioneer the first-ever execution using pure nitrogen inhalation for a death row inmate.
The Alabama attorney general’s office has requested the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith. The state intends to employ nitrogen hypoxia, an authorized but untested execution method, in three states.
Nitrogen hypoxia uses exclusive nitrogen inhalation, causing oxygen depletion and eventual death. Nitrogen is usually safe in oxygen and constitutes 78% of breathable air. While some claim it’s painless, others compare it to unethical human testing.
In 2018, Alabama approved nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method due to scarce lethal injection drugs. However, the state has not employed this method for executions until now. Oklahoma and Mississippi have similarly permitted nitrogen hypoxia, but neither has put it into practice.
Alabama’s readiness to employ nitrogen hypoxia will initiate further legal debates about the method’s constitutionality.
According to The Equal Justice Initiative, Alabama has a history of “failed and flawed executions and execution attempts” and “experimenting with a never before used method is a terrible idea.”
Angie Setzer, a senior attorney with the Equal Justice Initiative, said, “No state in the country has executed a person using nitrogen hypoxia, and Alabama is in no position to experiment with a completely unproven and unused method for executing someone.”
Last year, Alabama attempted to execute Smith using lethal injection but failed due to IV insertion issues. This was the state’s second instance within two months and the third since 2018. Governor Kay Ivey temporarily halted executions for an internal review, which has since resumed. Smith was involved in the 1988 murder-for-hire case of a preacher’s wife, and the Alabama attorney general argues it’s time for his death sentence to be carried out.
“It is a travesty that Kenneth Smith has been able to avoid his death sentence for nearly 35 years after being convicted of the heinous murder-for-hire slaying of an innocent woman, Elizabeth Sennett,” said Attorney General Steve Marshall.
Alabama has been developing the nitrogen hypoxia execution method for years but has kept details mostly undisclosed.
The attorney general’s filing didn’t provide execution specifics, but Commissioner John Hamm mentioned a near-complete protocol last month. Inmates, including Smith, are seeking to switch to nitrogen hypoxia instead of lethal injection.
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