Kenneth Smith Alabama: US state carries out first nitrogen gas execution on death row prisoner

Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas on Thursday (25 January) putting him to death with a new method which puts the US once again at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment. Officials said Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8.25pm at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation.

The state said the method would be humane but critics called it cruel and experimental. It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982.

The execution took about 22 minutes and Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints. That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing, until breathing was no longer perceptible.

In a final statement, Smith said: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. … I’m leaving with love, peace and light.” He made the “I love you sign” with his hands toward family members who were witnesses. Smith said: “Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you.”

Smith was convicted of a murder-for-hire in 1988 and the state had previously attempted to execute him in 2022 but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line. The execution came after a last-minute legal battle in which Smith’s attorneys contended the state was making him the test subject for an experimental execution method.

Federal courts rejected Smith’s bid to block it, with the latest ruling coming Thursday night from the US Supreme Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who along with two other liberal justices dissented, wrote: “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. The world is watching.” The majority justices did not issue any statements.

A state attorney told the 11th circuit court of appeals that it will be “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man.” But some doctors and organisations have raised alarm, and Smith’s attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution to review claims that the method violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment and deserves more legal scrutiny before it is used on a person.

Smith’s attorney wrote: “There is little research regarding death by nitrogen hypoxia. When the State is considering using a novel form of execution that has never been attempted anywhere, the public has an interest in ensuring the State has researched the method adequately and established procedures to minimize the pain and suffering of the condemned person.”

In his final hours, Smith met with family members and his spiritual adviser, according to a prison spokesperson. He ate a last meal of T-bone steak, hash browns, toast and eggs slathered in A1 steak sauce, Mr Hood said by telephone before the execution was carried out.