A death row inmate who survives a botched lethal injection in 2022 will be the first death row inmate to be executed using nitrogen hypoxia. This nitrogen hypoxia method is an untested and controversial method that is approved in only three states.
One of those three states is Alabama, where Kenneth Eugene Smith, now 58, was charged with inhaling lethal gas for his role in a murder-for-hire plot that killed Elizabeth Sennett in 1988. It is planned.
Executions by nitrogen hypoxia result in death by forcing prisoners to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving them of the oxygen they need to maintain bodily functions. That's the theory anyway.
However, the effects of the gas on humans have only been documented in medical journals in cases of accidental exposure and suicide attempts that resulted in the death of industrial workers, leading to criticism that Smith was essentially being used as a lab rat. It led to
Alabama inmate who survived botched execution fears second attempt won't work
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, is set to become the first inmate to die from nitrogen hypoxia, but his lawyer says he should be a “subject” in an untested “experimental” method. claims not to be. (Alabama Department of Corrections, Associated Press)
His lawyers said in court documents that their client was a “guinea pig” for a new method of execution, the first since lethal injection was introduced in 1982.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Smith's request for a stay of execution, stating, “The petition for a stay of execution of the death sentence, which was filed with Judge (Clarence) Thomas and referred to the court by him, is denied.”
The Alabama Attorney General's Office said the new method “causes loss of consciousness within seconds and death within minutes” and is “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man.” insisted.
Alabama's nitrogen gas execution 'amounts to torture' and may violate human rights treaties: United Nations
But Smith's lawyers said this was “inhumane” and that the masks used by the state were not airtight and could allow oxygen to penetrate inside, prolonging the execution or causing him to enter a vegetative state. He counterattacked by claiming that there was.
A doctor testifying on Smith's behalf said the low-oxygen environment made her nauseous and that she could suffocate to death on her own vomit, the Associated Press reported.
The ACLU of Alabama argued against the use of nitrogen gas in the execution of death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. (ACLU of Alabama)
The state responded that the risk of vomiting was low and that Smith would lose consciousness quickly.
The defense also argues that the second execution is unconstitutional because Smith was one of three Alabama death row inmates to survive a botched lethal injection in 2022.
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“ADOC (Alabama Department of Corrections) repeatedly attempted (and failed) to establish IV access through Mr. Smith's arm, hand, and central line while he was strapped to a gurney, inflicting actual physical and emotional distress on Mr. Smith. “It is an undisputed fact that the attack on him lasted for hours,” Smith's attorney said in a court filing.
The 2022 attempt lasted more than four hours and caused Smith “severe physical pain and psychological distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“ADOC representatives ignored Mr. Smith's complaints that they repeatedly stabbed him in the arm and hand, penetrating his muscles and causing severe pain,” the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court states. “I tried to do that,” he said.
Read the defense's Supreme Court petition
But five courts, ranging from the Alabama Circuit Court to the state Supreme Court, have opposed defense efforts to halt the execution or schedule a new trial from May 2023 to mid-January. handed down a judgment.
Smith's execution is scheduled to take place over a 30-hour window from midnight Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.
He was convicted of secret murder for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire plot in which Sennett's husband was murdered to collect insurance money. He and John Forrest Parker murdered the preacher's wife for $1,000 each.
Sennett's husband committed suicide a week after the murder. Parker was executed by lethal injection in 2010.
What do experts say about nitrogen hypoxia?
The United Nations said it was an “untested method of execution that could expose people to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and even torture.” Statement of January 3rd.
U.N. experts say there is no scientific evidence to prove Mr. Smith will not experience “grave suffering,” and pending a review of the protocol, U.S. officials at the state or federal level should not be given the death penalty. He requested that the execution be halted.
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UN experts said they were “concerned that nitrogen hypoxia could lead to painful and humiliating deaths.”
In the United States, veterinarians do not use nitrogen hypoxia to euthanize most animals, except for chickens, turkeys, and pigs, according to the 2020 American Veterinary Medical Association Euthanasia Guidelines.
A stretcher used when administering the lethal injection to a condemned death row inmate. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
It is “unacceptable” to most mammals because it creates a “miserable” and “anoxic environment.”
According to the AVMA, oxygen levels need to be less than 2% to cause loss of consciousness and death, which is difficult to achieve.
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The ACLU of Alabama piggybacked on the veterinarian guidelines in a statement released last week.
“Veterinary scientists who have conducted laboratory studies on animals have largely ruled out nitrogen gas as a euthanasia method due to ethical concerns,” the ACLU said.
“Attempting to kill Mr. Smith or any other person with nitrogen gas would be cruel and inhumane, and for that reason alone the plan should be abandoned.”
States with the highest number of executions from 1609 to 2020. (Statista)
The precedent that destroyed Smith's appeal
According to Alabama's protocol, gas will be administered for at least 15 minutes or “5 minutes after flatline…whichever is longer.”
Anesthetist Dr. Joel Gibot, one of four experts who filed the complaint with the United Nations, said this put Smith at risk of having a seizure or choking on his own vomit. He said a leak under the mask could prolong the execution.
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“This is clearly inhumane.” john york, a human rights professor who took part in the UN complaint, wrote in the Oxford Human Rights Hub: “But proving this to the satisfaction of the judicial process in the nation's capital is another matter.”
The court follows precedent set after the U.S. Supreme Court cases Bayes v. Reese in 2008, Glossip v. Gross in 2008, and Bucklew v. Precyth in 2018.
Excerpt from Chief Justice Neil Gorsuch's 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buccleuch v. Precise. (U.S. Supreme Court)
The lawsuit essentially argues that the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee prisoners a painless death and shifts the burden of proof that a particular method is inhumane from the state to the prisoner. claims.
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“This is a perverted requirement,” York wrote. “Under Bayes, Glossip, and Bucklew, Kenneth is effectively precluded from meeting these standards because of the lack of applicable test data regarding forced nitrogen gas inhalation on human subjects.”
