He was convulsed in seizure-like spasms for at least two minutes of the 22-minute execution by nitrogen hypoxia Thursday. The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly shake. Breathing through a nitrogen-filled face mask that deprived him of oxygen. 

For the first time, a new method has been used to kill a prisoner in the United States which has put the country at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment again. The US officials have been using lethal injection to kill prisoners, a method introduced in 1982.

The state had previously attempted to execute Smith, but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line.

‘Nitrogen hypoxia not an untested method’ 

Smith’s supporters expressed alarm at how the execution played out, saying it was the antithesis of the state’s promise of a quick and painless death. However, Alabama’s attorney general termed the execution a “textbook” during a news conference on Friday. 

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall extended an offer of help for states considering adopting the method, saying, “As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. It is a proven one.”

“That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia. Nothing was out of the ordinary from what we were expecting,” said Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm as quoted by AP. 

White House ‘deeply troubled’ by Alabama nitrogen gas execution

The White House on Friday said it was “deeply troubled” by the first-ever execution in the United States using nitrogen gas, an untested method that also drew condemnation from the United Nations and European Union.

“The use of nitrogen gas — it is troubling to us. We are deeply troubled by it,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told media persons. 

Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman, noted that President Joe Biden suspended federal executions after taking office.

“The president has long said, and has had deep, deep, deep, concerns with how the death penalty is implemented and whether it is consistent with our values,” she said.

UN, EU call Alabama nitrogen gas execution ‘cruel, inhuman’ 

UN human rights chief Volker Turk, the EU and US civil liberties groups expressed concern about the manner of Smith’s execution, which has reignited debate about the use of capital punishment, AFP reported. 

“This novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Turk said.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office in Geneva, said Smith was “clearly suffering.”

“Rather than using such untried methods to conduct executions, “let’s just bring an end to the death penalty. This is an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st century,” Shamdasani said. 

A spokesperson for the 27-member EU, which opposes the death penalty, denounced the method of execution as “a particularly cruel and unusual punishment.”

Yasmin Cader of the American Civil Liberties Union said Smith “should have never been killed, let alone in such a gruesome manner. “It’s past time for our country to put an end to the death penalty instead of inventing new and more heinous ways of carrying it out,” Cader said.

Kenneth Eugene Smith’s case

Smith was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett. Prosecutors said he and the other man were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.

Sennett, 45, was found dead March 18, 1988, in her home with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck, according to the coroner. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation focused on him as a suspect, according to court documents. John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010.

Smith’s 1989 conviction was overturned, but he was convicted again in 1996. The jury recommended a life sentence by 11-1, but a judge overrode that and sentenced him to death.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Published: 27 Jan 2024, 09:29 AM IST