Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas on Thursday, January 25, putting him to death with a first-of-its-kind method that once again put the United States at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment. The state said the method would be humane, but critics called it cruel and experimental.
Officials said Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation. It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the US since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982.
The execution took about 22 minutes, and Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints. That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing until breathing was no longer perceptible.
In a final statement, Smith said: "Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backward. ... I'm leaving with love, peace and light." He made the "I love you sign" with his hands toward family members who were witnesses. "Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you," Smith said.
The execution came after a last-minute legal battle in which Smith's attorneys contended the state was making him the test subject for an experimental execution method that could violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Federal courts rejected Smith's bid to block it, with the latest ruling coming Thursday night from the US Supreme Court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who along with two other liberal justices dissented, wrote: "Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its 'guinea pig' to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching." The majority justices did not issue any statements.
In a statement issued before he was put to death, Smith and the Reverend Jeff Hood, his spiritual adviser, said, "The eyes of the world are on this impending moral apocalypse. Our prayer is that people will not turn their heads. We simply cannot normalize the suffocation of each other."