Controversial execution method sparks death penalty debate.
Alabama Could Make History with Novel Execution Method
Alabama is on the verge of becoming the first state to execute a prisoner using a groundbreaking method: pure nitrogen inhalation. This unique approach has never been tested before, making it a significant development in the field of capital punishment.
The Alabama Attorney General’s office recently filed a court document urging the Alabama Supreme Court to schedule the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith. Smith was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder-for-hire killing of a preacher’s wife in the 1980s.
“It is a travesty that Kenneth Smith has been able to avoid his death sentence for nearly 35 years after being convicted of the heinous murder-for-hire slaying of an innocent woman, Elizabeth Sennett,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
The state’s court filing also revealed that Alabama plans to carry out the execution using nitrogen hypoxia, a method that has been authorized but never utilized in three states, including Alabama.
While nitrogen is a harmless component of the air we breathe, the execution process involves forcing the inmate to inhale 100 percent nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen. Experts suggest that the inmate would lose consciousness within a minute and subsequently pass away shortly after.
“Placed into a pure nitrogen environment, the convict would be unconscious within a minute (possibly even after a breath or two) and would be dead soon after,” explained Charles Blanke, a professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.
Supporters of this execution method argue that it would likely be painless. However, opponents view it as an unethical form of human experimentation.
Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 due to a shortage of drugs used in lethal injections. However, the state has not attempted to carry out an execution using this method until now. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia but have not implemented it.
Interestingly, Alabama may not be required to prove the humanity of pure nitrogen-based executions. According to Richmond University law professor Corinna Barrett Lain, the burden falls on the condemned inmate to demonstrate that the method is torturous.
Alabama has been working on developing the nitrogen hypoxia execution method for several years, but details about the process remain undisclosed. However, the state’s Corrections Commissioner John Hamm revealed that a protocol is nearly complete.
Meanwhile, multiple Alabama inmates, including Kenneth Eugene Smith, are seeking to block their lethal injections and instead opt for nitrogen hypoxia as their chosen method of execution.
In Smith’s case, the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ in Sheffield, Alabama, sought to hire a hitman to murder his wife after accumulating significant debts and engaging in an extramarital affair. Charles Sennett, the pastor, took out a large life insurance policy on his wife, Elizabeth Sennett, before orchestrating the murder.
As Alabama prepares to potentially make history with this untested execution method, the debate surrounding the ethics and humanity of capital punishment continues.
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