MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is preparing to use a new execution method: nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who survived the state’s previous attempt to put him to death by lethal injection in 2022, is expected to be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday. If carried out, it would be the first new method of execution since lethal injection was introduced in 1982.
The state claims nitrogen gas will quickly cause unconsciousness, but critics have compared the never-used execution method to human experimentation.
A nitrogen hypoxia execution would result in death by forcing the prisoner to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him or her of the oxygen necessary to maintain bodily functions.
No state has used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence. In 2018, Alabama became the third state – along with Oklahoma and Mississippi – to authorize the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners.
Some states are looking for new ways to execute prisoners as the drugs used in lethal injections, the most common execution method in the United States, become increasingly difficult to find.
Nitrogen, a colorless and odorless gas, makes up 78% of the air breathed by humans and is harmless when inhaled with proper oxygen levels.
The theory behind nitrogen hypoxia is that changing the composition of the air to 100% nitrogen will cause Smith to lose consciousness and then die from lack of oxygen.
Much of what is recorded in medical journals about deaths from nitrogen exposure comes from industrial accidents – where nitrogen leaks or mixes have caused worker deaths – and suicide attempts.
After Smith is strapped to the execution chamber gurney, the state said in a court filing that it will fit a “NIOSH-approved Type-C full-face respirator with air supply” — a type of mask typically used in industrial settings to save lives. -retaining oxygen – all over Smith’s face.
The warden will then read the death warrant and ask Smith if he has any last words before activating “the nitrogen hypoxia system” from another room. The nitrogen gas will be administered for at least 15 minutes or “five minutes after a flat indication on the ECG, whichever is longer,” according to the state protocol.
The state has heavily redacted portions of the protocol regarding storage and testing of the gas system.
The Alabama attorney general’s office told a federal judge that the nitrogen gas “will cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.”
Smith’s lawyers say the state wants to make him a “test subject” for a new execution method.
They have argued that the mask the state plans to use is not airtight and that the ingress of oxygen could subject him to a prolonged execution, potentially leaving him in a vegetative state rather than killing him. A doctor testified on Smith’s behalf that the low-oxygen environment could cause nausea, causing Smith to choke on his own vomit.
Experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this month warned that they believe the execution method would violate the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
The American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in 2020 euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia may be an acceptable method of euthanasia for pigs under certain circumstances, but not for other mammals because it creates an “anoxic environment that is distressing to some species.”
Not exactly. Some states previously used hydrogen cyanide gas, a deadly gas, for executions. The last prisoner executed in a U.S. gas chamber was Walter LaGrand, the second of two German brothers sentenced to death for the 1982 murder of a bank manager in southern Arizona. It took LaGrand 18 minutes to die in 1999.
Smith was one of two men convicted in 1988 of the murder-for-hire of a pastor’s wife. Prosecutors said Smith and the other man were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect insurance money.
Alabama attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection in 2022. He was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber where he was prepared for a lethal injection, but the state scrapped the lethal injection when members of the execution team struggled to connect the second of two required intravenous lines to Smith’s veins. Smith was strapped to the gurney for nearly four hours as he waited to see if the execution would go ahead, according to his lawyers.
The question of whether the execution can go ahead will go before the US Supreme Court.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Friday in Smith’s request to block the execution. After the court has ruled, both parties can appeal.
Smith has argued that the state’s proposed procedures violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He has also argued that Alabama violated his due process rights by scheduling the execution while he was still on appeal and that the face mask will hinder his ability to pray.
In a separate case, Smith argues that it would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment for the state to make a second attempt to execute him after he had already survived one execution attempt. Lawyers for Smith asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to stay the execution to consider that question.
Lethal injection is the most common method of execution in the United States, but states with the death penalty have sometimes struggled to obtain the necessary drugs or experienced other problems connecting intravenous lines.
If the Alabama execution goes ahead, other states may try to use nitrogen gas.
If the execution is blocked or failed in court, it could halt or delay the pursuit of nitrogen gas as an alternative execution method.
