NOW Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas later this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, clearing the way for what would be the nation’s first execution under a new method the inmate’s lawyers criticize as cruel and experimental.
The state is attempting to use Alabama inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith as a “test subject” for an experimental method of execution, according to Smith’s attorneys, and they plan to appeal the decision. The issue of whether the execution by nitrogen gas can go forward could ultimately come before the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker denied Smith’s request for an injunction to stop his scheduled execution by nitrogen hypoxia on January 25.According to the state’s plans, Smith would be covered in a respirator-style face mask that would replace his mouth and nose with nitrogen, forcing him to become oxygen-starved and eventually die. While nitrogen hypoxia has been approved for use as an execution technique in three states (Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma), no state has made an attempt to employ it thus far.
Following a court hearing in December and legal files in which Smith and Alabama’s attorneys provided conflicting accounts of the dangers and humaneness of dying from exposure to nitrogen gas, the judge made the decision to approve the nitrogen execution plan.
In court documents, the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said that oxygen deprivation will “cause unconsciousness within seconds, and cause death within minutes.” The state likened the new form of execution to industrial mishaps when victims of nitrogen gas exposure passed out and died.
However, Smith’s lawyers had said that the revised procedure for the execution is rife with uncertainties and other issues that go against the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The American Veterinary Medical Association stated in its 2020 euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia is a suitable method of euthanasia for pigs but not for other mammals because it could create a “anoxic environment that is distressing for some species,” as Smith’s attorneys pointed out in court documents.
Additionally, Smith’s lawyers contended that wearing the gas mask, which covers his lips and nose, would prevent him from saying a prayer out loud or from giving a last remark to witnesses in his last moments.Smith’s worries, according to the attorney general’s office in Alabama, are hypothetical.
To allay fears that Smith’s spiritual advisor would not be permitted to visit him before to his execution, the Alabama prison system consented to a few modest modifications. According to the state, Smith’s spiritual advisor would be allowed to visit the execution chamber prior to the mask being on so they may pray together and anoint him with oil. Last month, the Rev. Jeff Hood decided not to pursue legal action against the agency.
North Alabama was surprised at the time by the case that resulted in Smith receiving the death penalty.
On March 18, 1988, Sennett, the murder victim, was discovered dead in the Colbert County, Alabama, house she lived with her spouse. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old lady had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on either side of the neck. According to court papers, her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ at the time, committed suicide after becoming the focus of the murder investigation
On appeal, Smith’s original 1989 conviction was reversed. In 1996, he was tried again and found guilty. By a vote of 11-2, the jury recommended a life sentence; however, the judge disregarded the recommendation and gave Smith the death penalty. Judges in Alabama are no longer able to overturn jury verdicts that support the death penalty.2010 saw the execution of John Forrest Parker, the other man found guilty in the killing.
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