The state of Alabama defended the method as "perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised." "According to leading experts, this method is a particularly cruel and unusual punishment," he said in a statement. While nitrogen gas had never previously been used to execute humans in the United States, it is sometimes used to kill animals.īut Turk's office pointed out before the execution that even the American Veterinary Medical Association recommends giving large animals a sedative when being euthanized in this manner.Īlabama's protocol for execution by nitrogen asphyxiation makes no provision for sedation.Ī spokesman for the European Union, which opposes the death penalty, said the 27-country bloc "deeply regrets" the execution. There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.Īlabama is one of three US states that have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution, along with Oklahoma and Mississippi. The last US execution using gas was in 1999 when a convicted murderer was put to death using hydrogen cyanide gas. ![]() I love all of you," Smith said.Īccording to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Smith had a last meal of steak, hash browns and eggs on Thursday morning. "I am leaving with love, peace and light. Smith's last words Thursday were, "Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward," according to the local CBS affiliate. Smith was subjected to a botched execution attempt in November 2022, when prison officials were unable to set intravenous lines to administer a lethal injection. 'Step backward' for humanity, says condemned prisoner ![]() "It's never been used before to execute anyone in the United States, or anyone in the world as far as we know," Maher told AFP. Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, called it "an untested, unproven method of execution." "This novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," he said, according to a statement. The United Nations' human rights chief Volker Turk said he deeply regretted the execution. The curtain over the media witness room opened at 7:53 pm, AL.com said, with Smith pronounced dead less than 35 minutes later. Smith appeared to be "holding his breath as long as he could" and there was "involuntary movement" and gasping, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told reporters. He was put to death at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia, which involved pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing him to suffocate.Īccording to media witnesses, he "began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing," local news outlet AL.com reported. Smith, 58, was on death row for more than three decades after being convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire of a pastor's wife. Tonight, Kenneth Smith was put to death for the heinous act he committed over 35 years ago," the statement by Attorney General Steve Marshall said. ![]() ![]() Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 pm (0225 GMT Friday), according to the state attorney general.
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