The Alabama Supreme Court decided to allow the state to move forward with executing an inmate via nitrogen gas, a first for the state.
The 6-2 decision of the high court on Wednesday was made without comment, and the order did not include a specific execution method, but Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall had indicated in court filings that he would opt to use nitrogen gas to carry out the execution.
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Kenneth Eugene Smith, the man set to be executed by nitrogen gas, was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Sennett in the northwestern part of the state. Marshall applauded the high court's decision and said the Sennett family would finally "see justice served" after a 35-year wait.
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) November 2, 2023
“Elizabeth Sennett’s family has waited an unconscionable 35 years to see justice served,” Marshall said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Today, the [Alabama Supreme] Court cleared the way for Kenneth Smith to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth. Though the wait has been far too long, I am grateful that our talented capital litigators have nearly gotten this case to the finish line.”
Smith is poised to be the first person executed in the United States by nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing a person to breathe pure nitrogen until they pass out and eventually die from a lack of oxygen. Three states, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, have legalized the method, but none attempted to use it.
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Officials had previously tried to execute Smith by lethal injection in 2022 but failed to establish an IV by the deadline on the death warrant.
A time frame for when the state will put Smith to death has not been established.