death penalty
US justice system allows executions with nitrogen
View of Alabama’s lethal injection execution chamber at Holman Correctional Facility. An execution using so-called nitrogen hypoxia is now to take place in Alabama (archive image). photo
© Dave Martin/AP/dpa
Kenneth Eugene Smith was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection as early as 2022. The attempt failed. Now the convicted murderer is to be subjected to a new method of execution.
Smith’s lawyers had argued that the condemned man was becoming a kind of test candidate for a new method of execution and that far too many questions remained unanswered. However, the appeal court rejected the reservations in the evening. Smith could not prove that the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a new and novel method constituted “cruel and unusual” punishment, the ruling said. Shortly before, the Supreme Court had also rejected a similar application, but did not give any reason for it.
Human rights experts warn of potentially gruesome deaths
In recent days, demonstrators had called on Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to stop the execution. However, it is unlikely that they will be successful with their request. Human rights experts from the United Nations and Amnesty International warn of a potentially gruesome death. There is therefore no scientific evidence that inhalation of pure nitrogen does not cause serious suffering.
Smith was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2022. However, the prison staff were unable to insert the necessary cannula into his arm. He was taken back to his cell after several hours of lying strapped on the execution table.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for a contract killing committed eight years earlier. After an appeal, the jury had actually recommended a life sentence for him, but the judge in charge ignored this recommendation. The law that enabled him to do this no longer exists since 2017.