Alabama conducts first nitrogen execution of death row inmate

Despite criticism and appeals, the American state of Alabama on Thursday January 25 executed a condemned man by inhaling nitrogen, the first in the world to be condemned by the United Nations (UN), which equated the method to a form of execution. “torture”

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Kenneth Eugene Smith, sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of a woman in 1988, died after inhaling pure nitrogen at 8:25 p.m. local time (Friday, 3:25 p.m. Paris time) at Atmore Penitentiary. Face mask for lack of oxygen.

“Justice has been served. Kenneth Smith was executed tonight for the heinous act he committed thirty-five years ago.”Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Alabama has “Accomplishing something historic”.

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The execution is the first of the year in the United States, where twenty-four were carried out in 2023, all by lethal injection. This is the first time in more than forty years that a new method of execution has been used in this country. An earlier attempt by lethal injection, on November 17, 2022, was aborted at the last minute after Kenneth Eugene Smith was unable to place an intravenous infusion within the legally allotted time to administer the lethal solution, although he remained attached. several hours.

No latency is planned in the protocol

Alabama, located in the southern United States, is one of three American states that authorize execution by nitrogen inhalation. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on January 16, “alarm” through the use of “An Unprecedented and Untested Execution Mode, Nitrogen Hypoxia”. that “Considering torture or cruel or degrading treatment under international law”High Commission spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani warned that the executions should be stopped.

Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol does not provide for sedation, while the American Veterinary Association (AVMA) recommends sedation for animals euthanized this way, the spokesperson noted.

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All appeals and requests for a stay by Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, have been rejected by the United States Supreme Court, including Wednesday. The country’s highest court, with a conservative majority, on Thursday seized a final appeal by the convicted man, but did not act on it. In its written arguments to the Supreme Court, the State of Alabama went so far as to introduce nitrogen hypoxia as “Perhaps the most humane method of execution ever invented”

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“Alabama Authorities Miss Three Consecutive Executions in 2022, Including Mr. Smith”Underlines the Executive Director of the Specialized Observatory Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), Robin Maher. “They may feel more comfortable switching to a completely different mode of delivery, even if it’s experimental and has never been tested.”She continued in an interview with Agence France-Presse.

The death penalty was abolished in 23 American states

“I’m still in shock from the last time”In a December 2023 interview with public radio NPR, Kenneth Eugene Smith admitted. “absolutely terrified” To revive the attempted execution.

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He was convicted of the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, 45, after being ordered by her husband, Charles Sennett, a heavily indebted and unfaithful priest, to pose as a burglar. Despite the husband’s suicide, the police tracked down both the killers. Kenneth Eugene Smith’s accomplice, John Forrest Parker, was sentenced to death, and was executed in 2010.

Kenneth Eugene Smith was also first sentenced to death but the trial was overturned on appeal. During his second trial in 1996, eleven out of twelve jurors favored life imprisonment. But as in his colleague’s trial, the judge ignored the jurors’ opinion and sentenced him to death, which existed in some states at the time but has now been abolished throughout the United States.

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In its annual report in December, DPIC stated that the majority of prisoners in the United States were executed in 2023. “Perhaps there will be no death penalty today”

, due to consideration, in particular, of defendants’ mental health problems and legislative changes to impose the penalty of shock or death. Twenty-three American states have abolished the death penalty, while six others observe a moratorium on its application by governor’s decision.

The world with AFP