After Kenneth Smith’s Execution, Attorney General Says Alabama ‘Definitely Will Have More Nitrogen Hypoxia Executions’

(CNN) — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the execution method used to execute Kenneth Smith, saying, “Alabama will definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions.”

“As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as an execution tool is no longer unproven, but quite the opposite,” Marshall told reporters at a news conference Friday morning.

“We believe this was not only carried out constitutionally but was completely consistent with the way it was planned from the beginning,” Marshall said Thursday night, addressing questions about the protocol used for Smith’s execution.

According to Marshall, 43 other death row inmates have requested execution by nitrogen hypoxia as a means of death.

Marshall says it’s a method of execution that he believes will become more prevalent.

“Obviously we know that Mississippi and Oklahoma have chosen this method as appropriate and I believe, based on the feedback I’ve received, other states will follow suit,” Marshall said.

CNN has reached out to the Oklahoma and Mississippi departments for comment on last night’s execution and an update on whether nitrogen hypoxia will be used in future executions in those states.

Legislation has also been introduced in Nebraska to allow nitrogen hypoxia as a form of enforcement.

Smith’s execution was the first execution by nitrogen hypoxia in the United States.

Kenneth Smith was executed in 1988 for his role in the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett. (Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections)

Kenneth Smith’s execution in Alabama ‘could amount to torture’, says UN human rights chief

Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith may be executed using nitrogen gas, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said Friday.

“I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama, despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of asphyxiation with nitrogen gas may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Turk said.

Turk said the death penalty was “incompatible with the fundamental right to life” and urged all states to implement a moratorium on its use “as a step towards its universal abolition”.

Smith was sentenced to death in 1988 for his role in a murder-for-hire, but survived the state’s initial attempt to execute him by lethal injection in 2022. The US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a last-minute appeal to stay Smith’s execution.

The European Union (EU) also said in a statement on Friday that the new method of execution was “particularly cruel and unusual punishment.”

European Union spokesman Peter Steno said the bloc “deeply regrets” Smith’s execution, adding that it strongly opposes the death penalty “at all times and in all circumstances”. A spokesman described capital punishment as “a violation of the right to life and the ultimate denial of human dignity”.

Steno reiterated the EU’s continued calls for the universal abolition of the death penalty, adding that the bloc welcomes the fact that 29 US states have abolished or suspended the death penalty.