A federal judge authorized Alabama to be the first in the US to be executed with nitrogen gas

Alabama may implement first By using the country nitrogen gas, Despite claims that the method was cruel and untested, following a court ruling.

US District Judge R. Austin Huffaker denied a request for an injunction to stop the Jan. 25 execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith of Alabama. Nitrogen hypoxia.

Smith’s attorneys have said the state is trying to make him a “test subject” for an indiscriminate execution system and are expected to appeal the decision.

Ultimately the question of whether it can be enforced with nitrogen gas may end up before the US Supreme Court.

State plans call for a respirator-type mask to be placed over Smith’s nose and mouth to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing him to die from lack of oxygen. Three states (Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma) have authorized nitrogen hypoxia. As an execution method, however So far no state has attempted to use it

.

Smith, now 58, was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire of a preacher’s wife that rocked the small north Alabama community. Prosecutors said Smith and another man were paid $1,000 each to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted insurance.

Smith had survived the state’s previous attempt. The Alabama Department of Corrections attempted to administer a lethal injection to Smith in 2022, but canceled it when authorities were unable to connect the two veins needed to execute it.

The judge’s ruling allowing the nitrogen enforcement plan to move forward came after a court hearing and legal filings in December in which Smith and Alabama attorneys gave varying descriptions of the risks and humanity of death from exposure to the nitrogen gas.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office argued in court papers that a lack of oxygen “would lead to loss of consciousness within seconds and death within minutes.” The state compared the new enforcement method to industrial accidents in which people fainted and died after being exposed to nitrogen gas.

But Smith’s lawyers argued that the new execution protocol is fraught with unknowns and potential problems that violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Smith’s attorneys noted in court papers that the American Veterinary Medical Association wrote euthanasia guidelines in 2020 that mentioned nitrogen hypoxia. There is an acceptable method of euthanasia for pigs

But not for other mammals, as it can create “anoxic environments that are distressing for some species”.

Smith’s lawyers also argued that the gas mask, which was placed over his nose and mouth, would interfere with Smith’s ability to pray aloud or make a final statement to witnesses in their final moments.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office argued that Smith’s concerns were speculative.

Alabama’s prison system agreed to minor changes to address concerns that Smith’s spiritual advisor would not be able to minister with him before the execution. The state wrote that a spiritual advisor could enter the execution chamber to pray with Smith and anoint him with oil before the mask was placed over his face. Rev. Jeff Hood dropped the lawsuit against the department last month.

The case that led to Smith’s death sentence shocked North Alabama at the time.

Murder victim Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the home she shared with her husband in Colbert County, Alabama. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman was stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., then-pastor of Westside Church of Christ, killed himself when the murder investigation focused on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

In 1989, Smith’s initial conviction was overturned on appeal. He was retried in 1996 and convicted again. The jury recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11 to 1, but the judge overturned the recommendation and sentenced Smith to death. Alabama no longer allows a judge to nullify a jury in death penalty decisions.

John Forrest Parker, another man convicted of murder, was executed in 2010.