Alabama is on the brink of employing a new execution method never before seen in the US: nitrogen hypoxia.
The inmate who will be the first to undergo the controversial new method is 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith, who miraculously survived the state's previous botched lethal injection attempt in 2022.
Unless granted a stay, Smith is slated for execution by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday (January 25).
This untested method marks a significant departure from the standard use of lethal injection, which was first introduced in 1982.
While state officials contend that nitrogen gas will swiftly induce unconsciousness and subsequent death, critics - as well as Smith's own legal team - argue that this uncharted territory is tantamount to human experimentation.
Prior to his impending death, Smith recently spoke to the UK publication The Guardian from Holman prison, using his allocated 15-minute phone call to describe his surreal predicament as an execution survivor about to face untried execution procedures.
Speaking about his return to the death cell., Smith confessed: "I am not ready for that. Not in no kind of way. I'm just not ready, brother."
Following the traumatic failed execution, Smith has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He is now prescribed a combination of medications, including migraine control drugs, and his prison psychiatrist has documented symptoms of insomnia, anxiety, and depression — common indicators of severe trauma.
Smith revealed that he now has sleepless nights plagued by nightmares, as he grapples with the lingering psychological scars. Recurring nightmares of being led back into the death chamber haunt him. "All I had to do was walk into the room in the dream for it to be overwhelming. I was absolutely terrified," he recalled.
As the looming date of his second encounter with the execution chamber approaches, Smith's physical and mental health deteriorates.
"I dream that they’re coming to get me," he said.
Smith claimed that he often finds himself retching - a symptom that the prison nurse attributes to stress.
Explaining why he feels his execution should be postponed, he stated: "They haven't given me a chance to heal. I'm still suffering from the first execution, and now we're doing this again. They won't let me even have post-traumatic stress disorder — this is ongoing stress disorder."
Smith likened his situation as being like forcing a victim of abuse back into the hostile environment that originally traumatized them. "A person who did that would probably be seen as a monster," he remarked. "But when the government does it, you know, that's something else."
Alabama's protocol for nitrogen hypoxia requires the inmate to be strapped to a gurney. A specialized mask will then be placed on the inmate's face, forcing them to breathe pure nitrogen - depriving them of the oxygen needed to sustain bodily functions.
The administration of nitrogen gas will last for at least 15 minutes or for "five minutes following a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer."
The state claims that this method will cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.
Smith, who is currently on death row at William C. Holman Correctional Facility, was convicted for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett; the culmination of a tragic plot involving her husband, a local minister entangled in an affair, and debt. Smith was one of two men convicted of capital murder for the murder-for-hire killing of a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett.
Prosecutors said Smith was paid $1,000 by Charles Sennett, the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ in Sheffield, Alabama in 1988, to forcefully take his wife's life, per CBS News.
According to a 2000 decision from the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama reviewed by PEOPLE, the crime was orchestrated to resemble a botched burglary and Elizabeth Sennett’s brutal death by stabbing was the result of a scheme to claim insurance money.
Although the jury initially recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole by an 11 to 1 vote, the judge overruled this, sentencing Smith to death instead.
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