The Alabama death row inmate set to be executed on Thursday knows exactly how to feels to be led into a "death chamber" - because he's already been there once before.
Kenneth Smith, a 58-year-old inmate at the Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama, is set to face an unprecedented execution method in the United States.
On Thursday (January 25), Smith is scheduled to be judicially killed using nitrogen hypoxia, a technique that has never been used for capital punishment in the country.
Prior to his scheduled execution, Smith will be transported to the facility's "death cell" on Tuesday - the name given to the holding unit for condemned prisoners awaiting their demise. According to The Guardian, this cell is located roughly 20 feet from the death chamber where - unless Smith is granted a last-minute reprieve - he will be executed.
Unbelievably, this is a feeling and experience Smith knows all too well.
In November 2022, Alabama's Department of Corrections placed Smith in the death cell as they prepared to execute him by lethal injection.
On November 17, 2022, guards placed Smith in handcuffs and leg irons and led him to the execution chamber, where he was strapped tightly to the gurney. Smith’s lawyers later details his experience in court documents, writing: "[Smith] believed that he would die soon and that there was nothing more that could be done".
But despite preparing himself for imminent death, it never came.
During that ill-fated execution, he endured four hours on the gurney as officials struggled to find a suitable vein for the procedure.
Smith was subjected to numerous puncture holes in his body and even suspended upside down during the ordeal.
The Guardian reported at the time that at 10:00PM that day, a three-person IV team - their identities concealed behind green, blue, and red scrubs - entered the chamber and prepared to administer the drugs that would end Smith's life. This was a lethal cocktail of midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
Blue Scrubs secured a tourniquet around Smith's upper arm and inserted a needle. When Smith protested, claiming the needle was piercing his muscle, Blue Scrubs reportedly responded: "No, I'm not."
Following the failed attempt, Green Scrubs resorted to striking Smith's right hand and repeatedly inserting needles into it. Smith said he experienced excruciating pain with each jab, as the needles went in and out, moving under his skin.
When the team could not locate a suitable vein, Blue Scrubs instructed the prison guards to flip the gurney backward. This peculiar maneuver positioned Smith with his feet pointing towards the ceiling and his head bowed to the ground.
Subsequently, the IV team exited the chamber, leaving Smith in this distressing position for several minutes. Upon their return, they restored the gurney to its original position.
Clad in face masks and shields to protect against potential blood splatter, Red Scrubs wielded a large-gauge needle. He attempted to insert it beneath Smith's collarbone, aiming to initiate a central line IV in his subclavian artery.
Despite five or six attempts, the needle proved unsuccessful. In a final effort, a deputy warden repositioned Smith's head to provide a clearer path for the needle, intensifying the harrowing ordeal.
All of the attempts were unsuccessful.
Now, a mere 14 months later, Smith faces a return to the death cell and the prospect of another execution attempt. However, this time, the protocol is different and untested.
The novel execution method awaiting Smith involves nitrogen gas, which has never been utilized in capital punishment in the US. The process involves forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving them of the oxygen required to sustain vital functions.
This approach to execution has raised ethical concerns and has been rejected by veterinarians for euthanizing most animals, except for pigs.
Smith's previous execution attempt has taken a significant toll on his mental health, leading to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He now relies on a combination of medications, including those for migraines, insomnia, anxiety, and depression, which are often associated with severe trauma.
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.
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