Nebraska lawmakers have passed a bill that would add nitrogen asphyxiation to the state's execution methods, even as Alabama officials wait for a judge's ruling to block plans to become the nation's first death penalty state. submitted. Nitrogen gas.
Nebraska's only current method of execution is lethal injection. The bill introduced Thursday would add a nitrogen law that would provide death row inmates with pure nitrogen through a mask that fits tightly over their noses and mouths, allowing prisoners to suffer from hypoxia, or damage to their tissues and cells. You will die from lack of oxygen.
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The bill, introduced by state Sen. Lauren Lippincott of Central City, would leave it up to prison officials to decide which method to use. Lippincott, an officially independent Congressional Republican, said he introduced the bill at the suggestion of one of his constituents.
“We know the death penalty is the law in Nebraska,” he said. “It's the will of the people. I introduced this as a way to carry out the death penalty humanely.”
If the bill passes, Nebraska would become the fourth state to switch to nitrogen gas asphyxiation. The remaining states are Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi, but this method has never been used to execute a prisoner in the United States.
Nebraska State Senator Lauren Lippincott sits at her desk in the Nebraska State Capitol on January 5, 2024. He introduced a bill that would add nitrogen asphyxiation to the state's death penalty methods. (AP Photo/Margery Beck)
Alabama is aiming for its first execution, setting a January 25 execution date for Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted of commission murder in the 1988 murder of a woman. A federal judge previously ruled that the method could violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, likening untested methods to human experimentation. A decision will be made on whether to block the planned execution. They also argued that if the mask failed to seal properly, air could mix with nitrogen, which could prolong the execution and cause pain to Smith.
Lippincott isn't concerned about the court challenges facing Alabama officials over the protocol. “Everything will be challenged in court,” he said Friday.
He is also convinced that death from nitrogen hypoxia is not painful. Lippincott, a former Air Force and Delta Air Lines pilot, went through an alpine hypoxia simulation as part of his training and recalls the experience as being painless.
“For me, it was a sleepy feeling and a warm feeling,” he said. “Basically, I just sleep.”
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It's too early to know whether this bill has a chance of passing. The lack of prioritization makes it more likely that the committee will move forward, but it could still come before the Feb. 14 deadline. And while it has 17 co-signers, lawmakers have already introduced more than 200 bills in the first three days of this year's “short” 60-day session.
It is clear that there is at least some opposition. Omaha Progressive Sen. Megan Hunt told state prison officials Friday that they will decide whether death row inmates will be executed by lethal injection or by “a firing squad made up of all members of the Legislature.” He proposed a tongue-in-cheek amendment to the bill that would give him the power to do so. ”
The annual report on the death penalty released late last year by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center found that more Americans now believe the death penalty is being carried out unjustly.
Nebraska has a long and chaotic history with the death penalty. The Legislature abolished the system in 2015, ignoring the wishes of the governor at the time. Pete Ricketts' Veto. Nebraska voters reinstated the death penalty the following year through a ballot initiative heavily funded by Ricketts, a billionaire and current Nebraska state senator.
Executions are rare in Nebraska, with only four people put to death since 1976. The last execution was in 2018, when Carrie Dean Moore was executed for the 1979 murders of two taxi drivers in Omaha.
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Nebraska currently lacks the drugs needed for lethal injections, the state Department of Corrections confirmed Friday. Like many other states with the death penalty, Nebraska has long struggled to obtain the drugs used to execute inmates. Most drug manufacturers now openly refuse to supply drugs.
In 2020, Ricketts vetoed a bill that would have prohibited prison officials from blocking the view of execution witnesses before a convicted inmate is pronounced dead. The bill was introduced after prison officials closed the curtain during Moore's 2018 execution for 14 minutes, preventing members of the media from watching the entire process. Critics say that prevented the public from knowing whether there was anything wrong with Moore's execution.
There are currently 12 death row inmates in Nebraska.
