Alabama carries out first US nitrogen gas execution of prisoner

Kenneth Smith (58), the death-row prisoner who on Thursday night became the first person in the US to be executed with nitrogen gas, said in his last words that “Alabama caused humanity to take a step backwards”.

The execution was the second time the Alabama Department of Corrections attempted to end Smith’s life: in November 2022, he spent four hours strapped to a gurney as an execution team unsuccessfully tried to find a vein to administer a lethal injection. That was the state’s third failed execution in a row, within a five-month period.

Alabama is one of 27 US states where the death penalty remains legal – although six have placed a hold on executions.

The execution of Smith was carried out after the US supreme court on Thursday rejected a plea from the prisoner’s lawyers for a stay of execution, carried out through the controversial method of nitrogen hypoxia, for his role in a murder committed in 1988.

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the denial of the application, noting the method of execution was “untested”.

“Once the nitrogen is flowing into his mask, his executioners will not intervene and will not remove the mask, even if Smith vomits into it and chokes on his own vomit,” she said.

“The world is watching. ,This court yet again permits Alabama to “experiment ... with a human life while depriving Smith of ‘meaningful discovery’ on meritorious constitutional claims.”

Justice Elena Kagan was joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in a separate dissent and noted that she would pause the execution to give adequate time to examine the “exceptional circumstances” behind Alabama’s new execution method.

The execution led to protests outside the Holman correctional cacility in Atmore, where it took place.

Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, told BBC news ahead of the execution: “They are basically using him as a lab rat to try this new method. There is no humane method for a state to kill someone. The Alabama state government should work towards abolishing the death penalty rather than come up with fixes.

“There are a number of concerns that Kenneth Smith underwent a lethal injection execution just 14 months ago and was basically tortured on a gurney.”

Following the supreme court denial of a stay, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall cleared the execution to begin at 7.56pm local time. Smith was pronounced dead at 8.25pm, ending a period of incarceration that began after he was convicted of murdering Elizabeth Sennet (45) in March of 1988.

Smith was one of two men indirectly hired by Charles Sennett – a pastor at Westside Church in Sheffield, Alabama – to murder his wife.

Sennett – through a man called Billy Williams, also convicted of the crime – paid Smith and John Parker $1,000 each. After gaining entry to the home, Smith and Parker repeatedly stabbed and beat their victim to death.

Charles Sennett later took his own life when suspicion of his involvement in the crime heightened.

The jury that convicted Smith of murder had voted by a majority – 11 to 1 – to sentence him to life in prison, but that decision was over-ruled by the judge in favour of the death penalty. Alabama has since made it illegal for judges to overrule jury recommendations, but that law does not apply to previous cases.

The petition by Smith’s lawyers argued against the state’s legal assertion that the method of execution by nitrogen hypoxia is painless and would bring about unconsciousness in seconds. They said there was a risk Smith would be left in a vegetative state or suffer a stroke or asphyxiation.

A report by five Alabama journalists who witnessed the execution said Smith “shook and writhed” for at least two minutes and then proceeded to breathe heavily for several minutes after that.

“Justice has been served,” Mr Marshall said in a statement. “Alabama has achieved something historic. Like most states, Alabama has made the judgment that some crimes are so horrific that they warrant the ultimate penalty,” the attorney general added.

“But anti-death penalty activists have worked to nullify that moral judgment through pressure campaigns against assisting states in the process. They don’t care that Alabama’s new method is humane and effective because they know it is also easy to carry out.

“Despite the international effort by activists to undermine and disparage our state’s justice system and to deny justice to the victims of heinous murders, our proven methods offer a blueprint for other states and a warning to those who would contemplate shedding innocent blood,” Mr Marshall said.

Michael Sennett, a son of the murdered woman, told reporters after the execution that “nothing that happened here today is going to bring Mom back. It’s kind of a bittersweet day”. He added that although the family had forgiven the three men involved in the murder, Smith had been incarcerated “almost twice as long as I knew my mom”.