The Southern US State of Alabama executed a convicted murderer, Kenneth Eugene Smith, using nitrogen gas on Thursday. Smith, 58, who was pronounced dead at 8:25 pm (0225 GMT Friday), was on death row for more than three decades after being convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire of a pastor’s wife. The State Attorney General, Steve Marshall said, “Justice has been served. Tonight, Kenneth Smith was put to death for the heinous act he committed over 35 years ago.”
Smith was put to death at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia, which involved pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing him to suffocate.
According to media witnesses, he “began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing,” local news outlet AL.com reported.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told reporters that it appeared Smith was “holding his breath as long as he could” and that there was “involuntary movement” and gasping, which was “expected.”
The curtain over the media witness room opened at 7:53 pm, AL.com said, with Smith pronounced dead less than 35 minutes later.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said previously that Alabama was “using an untested, unproven method of execution.”
“It’s never been used before to execute anyone in the United States, or anyone in the world as far as we know,” Maher told AFP.
Smith was subjected to a botched execution attempt in November 2022, when prison officials were unable to set intravenous lines to administer a lethal injection.
Smith’s last words Thursday were, “Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backwards,” according to the local CBS affiliate, whose reporter witnessed the execution.
“I am leaving with love, peace and light… I love you. Thank you for supporting me. I love all of you,” Smith said.
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Smith had a last meal of steak, hash-browns and eggs Thursday morning.
The last US execution using gas was in 1999 when a convicted murderer was put to death using hydrogen cyanide gas.
There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.
Alabama is one of three US states that have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution, along with Oklahoma and Mississippi.
