Alabama set to execute inmate with nitrogen gas, a never before used method

Alabama, until blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, will try to put an inmate to dying with nitrogen gasoline on Thursday night time, a by no means earlier than used execution methodology that the state claims will probably be humane however critics name merciless and experimental.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, a 58-year-old convicted killer whose 2022 deadly injection was referred to as off on the final minute as a result of authorities couldn’t join an IV line, is scheduled to be executed at a south Alabama jail.

Alabama plans to place an industrial-type respirator masks over Smith’s face and substitute his respiratory air with pure nitrogen gasoline, inflicting him to die from lack of oxygen. The execution would be the first try to make use of a brand new execution methodology for the reason that 1982 introduction of deadly injection, now the most typical execution methodology within the United States.

“It’s an experiment,” stated the Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s non secular advisor and a dying penalty opponent.

Smith’s attorneys on Thursday requested the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution to evaluate claims that the brand new methodology violates the constitutional ban on merciless and weird punishment and deserves extra authorized scrutiny earlier than it’s used on an individual.

“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,” Smith’s attorneys wrote.

Justices on Wednesday rejected Smith’s argument that it could be unconstitutional to make one other try to execute him after the failed deadly injection.

Smith is one in every of two males convicted within the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett. Prosecutors stated he and the opposite man have been every paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wished to gather on insurance coverage.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall stated Wednesday night time that he believes the courts will enable the execution to proceed.

“My office stands ready to carry on the fight for Liz Sennett. Two courts have now rejected Smith’s claims. I remain confident that the Supreme Court will come down on the side of justice, and that Smith’s execution will be carried out,” Marshall stated.

Alabama plans to strap Smith to a gurney within the execution chamber — the identical chamber the place he was strapped down for a number of hours in the course of the deadly injection try — and place a “full facepiece supplied air respirator” over his face. After he’s given an opportunity to make a last assertion, the warden, from one other room, will activate the nitrogen gasoline. The nitrogen will probably be administered by the masks for at the least quarter-hour or “five minutes following a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer,” in keeping with the state protocol.

The execution is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. native time however may very well be delayed till due to authorized motion or preparation. The state has till 6 a.m. Friday to hold out the execution.

Some states are in search of new methods to execute inmates as a result of the medication utilized in deadly injections, the most typical execution methodology within the United States, are more and more tough to search out. Three states — Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma — have licensed nitrogen hypoxia as an execution methodology, however no state has tried to make use of the untested methodology till now.

The sufferer’s son, Charles Sennett Jr., stated in an interview with WAAY-TV that Smith “has to pay for what he’s done.”

“And some of these people out there say, ‘Well, he doesn’t need to suffer like that.’ Well, he didn’t ask Mama how to suffer?” the son stated. “They just did it. They stabbed her — multiple times.”

The state has predicted the nitrogen gasoline will trigger unconsciousness inside seconds and dying inside minutes. A state legal professional instructed the eleventh Circuit that will probably be “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man.”

But some medical doctors and organizations have raised alarm concerning the state’s plan.

Much of what’s recognized about dying by nitrogen gasoline comes from industrial accidents or suicide makes an attempt. Dr. Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia skilled who designed a suicide pod utilizing nitrogen gasoline and appeared as an skilled witness for Smith, stated nitrogen can present a peaceable, hypoxic dying, however stated he has considerations about Alabama’s proposal to make use of a masks.

Nitschke instructed The Associated Press that Smith’s facial hair, jaw actions and involuntary actions as he feels the impact of the nitrogen might impression the seal. If there are leaks, Smith might proceed to attract in sufficient oxygen, “to prolong into what could be a very rather macabre, slow process of slowly not getting enough oxygen,” Nitschke stated. He stated he might envision eventualities the place the execution goes shortly or significantly awry.

Marshall’s workplace famous in courtroom filings that Smith beforehand advised nitrogen in its place methodology when combating makes an attempt to execute him by deadly injection. Courts require inmates difficult execution strategies to counsel one other out there various. Alabama on the time had not developed a nitrogen protocol. Robert Grass, an legal professional for Smith, instructed federal courts that they’re difficult the precise approach the state plans to manage the nitrogen. They argued using a gasoline masks places Smith in danger for a chronic and painful dying or choking to dying on his personal vomit.

The American Veterinary Medical Association in 2020 euthanasia pointers wrote nitrogen hypoxia is just not an appropriate euthanasia methodology for many mammals as a result of the anoxic surroundings “is distressing.” Experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council cautioned they imagine the execution methodology might violate the prohibition on torture.

Sennett, 45, was discovered lifeless March 18, 1988, in her residence in Colbert County with eight stab wounds within the chest and one on both sides of her neck, in keeping with the coroner. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation centered on him as a suspect, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. John Forrest Parker, the opposite man convicted within the slaying, was executed in 2010.

Smith’s 1989 conviction was overturned. He was convicted once more in 1996. The jury beneficial a life sentence by 11-1, however a choose overrode the advice and sentenced Smith to dying. Alabama now not permits a choose to override a jury’s dying penalty resolution.

Kim Chandler, The Associated Press