US’ First Nitrogen Gas Execution in Alabama Raises Concerns

The United Nations Human Rights Council has recently pushed to stop Alabama from carrying out America’s first nitrogen gas execution, scheduled for Kenneth Eugene Smith on 25 January.

The UN experts argue that there is no evidence to suggest that nitrogen gas would not result in a painful and humiliating death.

They also contend that nitrogen gas executions may violate the UN Convention against Torture and other UN agreements to which the US is a party.

Nitrogen Gas Execution – Unproven Method

Nitrogen gas execution is an untested method that has never been used in the US before.

It is designed to asphyxiate the condemned inmate by forcing them to breathe pure nitrogen or toxically high concentrations of nitrogen through a gas mask.

The method has been authorized as a legal option for capital punishment in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, but no state has used it yet.

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Other Methods Used For Execution in The US

In the US, lethal injection is the most common method of execution, with 28 states using it as their primary method.

The process involves injecting a lethal dose of drugs into the inmate’s bloodstream, causing death within minutes.

However, the use of lethal injection has been controversial due to concerns about the drugs used and the potential for botched executions.

Other methods of execution used in the US include electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad.

Electrocution involves delivering a high voltage electric shock to the inmate, causing death through cardiac arrest. The gas chamber involves exposing the inmate to lethal gas, causing death through suffocation. Hanging involves suspending the inmate by the neck until death occurs through asphyxiation.

Firing squad involves a group of individuals shooting the inmate simultaneously, causing death through blood loss and trauma.

Legal Challenges

Smith’s attorneys have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to stop the Nitrogen execution, arguing that Alabama is attempting to make their client the “test subject for this novel and experimental execution method”.

The Alabama Supreme Court has approved the use of nitrogen gas for execution, but there is likely to be additional legal dispute on the matter.

Concerns About Suffering

While proponents of the new method claim it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.

The UN experts have expressed their disappointment in the US for continuing the practice of capital punishment and have raised concerns about the potential for suffering during the execution.

Impact on Alabama’s Death Row

Kenneth Eugene Smith, born on 4 July 1965, is an convicted of the 18 March 1988, murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett in Colbert County, Alabama.

Smith and John Forrest Parker were both found guilty of killing the victim by beating and stabbing her in her home, as part of a murder-for-hire plot.

Sennett, a pastor’s wife, was the victim of this heinous crime.

Smith has been on death row since 1996 and has faced legal challenges and multiple execution attempts.

Smith’s first execution attempt took place in November 2022, but it was called off after prison staff failed to locate a suitable vein to inject the poison after trying for about an hour.

His case has been through a legal process that included a divided Alabama Supreme Court in November 2023, which granted his request for execution by nitrogen gas.

Alabama has 165 inmates on death row, and this case sets a precedent for the potential use of nitrogen gas execution as an alternative to lethal injection.

Case to Set Legal Precedent

While the use of capital punishment remains a contentious issue in the US, the debate over the use of experimental execution methods such as nitrogen gas has raised concerns about the potential for suffering and the lack of evidence supporting their safety.

As the first case of its kind in the US, the planned nitrogen gas execution in Alabama has the potential to set a significant legal precedent and spark further debate about the use of capital punishment and experimental execution methods.

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