Alabama Carries Out World’s First Nitrogen Gas Execution
Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row prisoner, using nitrogen gas hypoxia, making it the first known instance of this method being employed in a capital punishment case. The execution took place at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Alabama prison officials had kept the specifics of the execution method confidential, and only five independent witnesses from the news media were permitted to observe the process.
Smith, 58, had been sentenced to death for his involvement in a contract killing over three decades ago. The use of nitrogen gas in executions had been the subject of legal disputes and scrutiny, as its application in a prison setting had never been documented before. Alabama had previously attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection in 2022 but was unsuccessful.
Scrolling back to recent years, the struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs has led some states to explore alternative execution methods. Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma have greenlit the use of nitrogen hypoxia, while other states have reintroduced the firing squad as a backup option.
The execution of Smith, which proceeded despite objections from medical professionals and human rights advocates, drew attention to the issue of human experimentation. Smith’s legal team had argued that Alabama’s untested method amounted to such experimentation. This concern was taken to the US Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to halt the execution, but the court rejected the request. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, with Sotomayor emphasizing the untested nature of Alabama’s approach.
Smith’s case was marred by a judicial override, a practice that allowed a judge to overturn a jury’s verdict. Although Alabama abolished this practice in 2017, Smith was still sentenced to death despite the jury supporting a life imprisonment verdict in a re-trial. His attorneys also raised concerns about the risk of vomiting and choking during the execution, but Alabama’s attorney general dismissed these concerns, stating they were unlikely to occur.
The case dates back to 1988 when Smith was convicted for his role in the murder of Elizabeth Sennett. The investigation revealed that Sennett’s husband had hired a hitman, with Smith and another individual carrying out the murder. The husband later committed suicide after his involvement became known, while the middleman involved in the plot was sentenced to life in prison. The other executor, John Forrest Parker, was executed in 2010.
As states continue to grapple with the challenges of obtaining lethal injection drugs, alternative execution methods like nitrogen gas hypoxia and firing squads are being explored. The use of such methods has drawn attention and sparked debates surrounding constitutional rights, human experimentation, and the ethics of capital punishment.
