US prisoner who lost last-minute appeals faces his first nitrogen execution

Kenneth Eugene Smith, an inmate on death row in Alabama, is set to make history as the first person in the United States to be executed using nitrogen gas.

Despite last-minute appeals, both the US Supreme Court and a lower appeals court have refused to block the execution, dismissing claims of it being a “cruel and unusual” punishment. Critics argue that the use of nitrogen gas could result in unnecessary suffering and pose a risk to those present in the execution chamber if there is a leak.

Smith, who was convicted of murdering Elizabeth Sennett in 1989, is scheduled to be executed within 30 hours, starting from Thursday at 0600 GMT (0100 ET), by having nitrogen gas pumped through a mask.

This method of execution has never been used before in the US or anywhere else in the world, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Smith’s lawyers are making another appeal to the US Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to halt the execution.

Alabama argues that the inmate will lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes due to the breakdown of cells caused by breathing pure nitrogen without oxygen. However, medical professionals have criticized the use of nitrogen gas, warning of potential catastrophic consequences such as violent convulsions or survival in a vegetative state.

The approval of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method of execution in Alabama and two other states is a response to the difficulty in obtaining the drugs used in lethal injections, which has led to a decline in the number of executions nationwide.

Alabama previously attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection two years ago but failed to find a suitable vein before the death warrant expired.

BBC