Southern state aims to be first to adopt highly efficient execution method.
Alabama Seeks to Execute Prisoner Using Pure Nitrogen
Alabama is making headlines as it seeks to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen. The state’s attorney general’s office has requested the Alabama Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58.
Alabama plans to use nitrogen hypoxia, a method that has been authorized in three states but has never been used. This execution method involves depriving the inmate of oxygen by forcing them to breathe only nitrogen. Nitrogen is harmless when inhaled with oxygen and makes up 78 percent of the air humans breathe.
While proponents argue that this method would be painless, opponents have compared it to human experimentation. Several Alabama inmates, including Smith, who are facing lethal injection, have argued for the option to die by nitrogen hypoxia.
Alabama authorized this execution method in 2018 due to a shortage of drugs for lethal injections, but it has not been attempted until now to carry out a death sentence. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia but have not used it.
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The disclosure that Alabama is ready to use nitrogen hypoxia is expected to spark legal battles over the constitutionality of the method. The Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy group, has criticized Alabama’s history of “failed and flawed executions” and called the use of an unproven and unused method a terrible idea.
Alabama previously attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection but faced difficulties with inserting an IV into his veins. This led to a pause on executions and a review of lethal injection procedures. The state has since resumed lethal injections.
Smith was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife. The attorney general argues that it is time to carry out the death sentence. The victim’s husband, who was behind the murder, killed himself when he became a suspect in the investigation.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
The post Southern State Seeking to Become First to Use Brutally Efficient New Execution Method appeared first on The Western Journal.
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