The Supreme Court on Thursday denied Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith his last chance to avoid execution with nitrogen gas, with three liberal justices dissenting.
Smith, who was convicted of murder-for-hire in 1988, will be executed by nitrogen hypoxia. This method involves cutting off the supply of oxygen that people need to continue functioning.
Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan opposed the decision to deny Smith a last chance to avoid execution. In his dissent, Sotomayor said the method used to execute Smith was “untested.”
“After failing to kill Smith on the first attempt, Alabama chose him as a 'guinea pig' to test an execution method that had never been attempted before,” Sotomayor said. “The world is watching. This court has once again allowed Alabama to conduct an “experiment.'' . . “at the risk of human life'' and deprived Smith of “meaningful discovery'' regarding a valuable constitutional claim. ”
Sotomayor said he was “deeply saddened but committed to protecting the Eighth Amendment from cruel and unusual punishment.”
Kagan joined Jackson in dissenting, calling the execution method “novel” and echoing Sotomayor.
“State protocols were recently developed and are still being revised to prevent Mr. Smith from choking on his own vomit,” Kagan said. “The State has refused to provide Smith with all of the findings regarding the protocol that he requested. And Smith has well-documented medical conditions that pose special risks to the State's newly chosen method of execution. There is.”
Future executions have sparked controversy. The United Nations human rights office said it was “alarmed” by the execution, noting that Yellowhammer State does not have regulations for administering sedatives before using the method.
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