This week, the state of Alabama is set to perform an execution with a method that has never been used in the US before. Here's how it works...
Known as nitrogen hypoxia, the untested method is shrouded in controversy - with experts, human rights organizations, and the condemned inmate's legal team raising concerns about the procedure.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, a convicted murderer who survived Alabama's previous attempt to execute him by lethal injection in 2022, is scheduled to face the novel method of execution on Thursday (January 25). If the execution proceeds, it would mark the first time a new execution method has been employed since lethal injection was introduced in 1982, ABC News reports.
The state's decision to opt for nitrogen hypoxia execution has sparked debate, with critics and Smith's legal team likening it to human experimentation.
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.
While nitrogen is a colorless, odorless gas that constitutes 78% of the air we breathe and is harmless when combined with adequate levels of oxygen. The theory behind nitrogen hypoxia execution is that shifting the air's composition to 100% nitrogen will cause unconsciousness and ultimately lead to death.
However, Smith's legal team has contested the use of this method, arguing that the mask planned for use is not airtight, which could result in oxygen seeping in and prolonging the execution, potentially leaving Smith in a vegetative state instead of causing his death. A doctor testified on Smith's behalf, suggesting that the low-oxygen environment might induce nausea, causing Smith to choke on his own vomit.
During a recent appeal to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on January 19, Smith's attorney argued that not only was the method flawed, but also that the state intended to execute Smith under unprecedented circumstances - raising concerns that his client is being treated simply as a "test subject" for the unproven method.
Per the Wall Street Journal, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) also issued a statement back in the fall slamming the decision to move forward with the method.
Reps for the non-profit organization said in a statement: "With its record of botched executions, Alabama is the very last state that should be experimenting with an untested method of execution like this one. The truth is that no one — not even Alabama officials — know what will happen when they use nitrogen gas."
Additionally, in an article on the DPIC's official website, they argue that the "use of this untested method may also pose dangers to spiritual advisors and prison staff in the execution chamber."
The United Nations Human Rights Council has expressed concerns, suggesting that the execution method may violate the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment.
Furthermore, the American Veterinary Medical Association, in its 2020 euthanasia guidelines, acknowledged that nitrogen hypoxia could be an acceptable method of euthanasia for some species like pigs but not for other mammals due to the distress it causes.
The question of whether the execution will proceed is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. Smith has raised various constitutional issues, arguing that Alabama's proposed procedures violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and infringe upon his due process rights. His legal team also contends that scheduling the execution while appeals are pending violates his rights.
In a separate case, Smith is challenging the constitutionality of making a second attempt to execute him after he survived one execution. The US Supreme Court has been asked to stay the execution to consider this matter.
Lethal injection is the most commonly used execution method in the United States, but difficulties in obtaining the required drugs and other problems have led some states to explore alternative methods. If Alabama proceeds with the nitrogen gas execution, it could pave the way for other states to consider adopting the same method.
Execution by nitrogen hypoxia was first authorized in Alabama in 2018.
At the time, the state’s corrections director at the time, Joe Allbaugh, provided some reasoning behind the state's decision to introduce the method, saying: "Trying to find alternative compounds or someone with prescribing authority willing to provide us with the drugs is becoming exceedingly difficult."
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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