Kenneth Smith’s nitrogen execution was ‘textbook’ and will be used again, Alabama AG says: updates
Attorney General Steve Marshall said that after Thursday night, ‘nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. It is a proven one’
Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith has been executed by nitrogen gas – making him the first person in US history to be put to death through the controversial method.
Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8.25pm CT on Thursday at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, almost three decades after he was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire plot of Elizabeth Sennett.
His religious adviser Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed the execution, told reporters what he saw was a man “struggling for their life” for a staggering 22 minutes.
The White House condemned the execution on Friday. “It is very troubling to us as an administration. It is very troubling to us here at the White House,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Alabama authorities insist the execution went to plan, despite predicting the untested method would lead to unconsciousness within seconds and death in minutes.
But, witnesses said Smith appeared conscious for several minutes, shaking and writhing on the gurney.
“We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds,” said Rev Hood. “What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.”
Smith’s death came after the US Supreme Court denied a final, 11th-hour bid to stay of execution. The ruling received dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor who wrote that the state had selected Smith as a “guinea pig” by using the untested method.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said that 43 more death row inmates have elected to die by nitrogen hypoxia. People incarcerated on death row are able to chose their preferred method from electrocution, lethal injection or nitrogen hypoxia.
“What occurred last night was textbook,” AG Marshall said. “As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. It is a proven one.”
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Alabama death row inmate described his state’s previous botched execution attempt
Kenneth Eugene Smith was a member of strange and horrific club: people Alabama has attempted to execute, but failed to do so in time. Its membership grew last year, with the state failing on two separate attempts to successfully complete a death sentence.
Josh Marcus has more.
Alabama death row inmate describes state’s botched execution attempt
Death row inmate’s statement before nitrogen execution
Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith in his final statement said humanity took a step backwards in Alabama.
“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. ... I’m leaving with love, peace and light,” he said.
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.
UN: Executing Alabama inmate with nitrogen gas would be ‘torture'
The UN earlier this month said executing the Alabama death row inmate using a new and experimental method would amount to “torture”.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights office voiced concerns, stating that the organisation had “serious concerns” over the proposed execution.
“We are alarmed by the imminent execution in the United States of America of Kenneth Eugene Smith, through the novel and untested method – suffocation by nitrogen gas,” Ms Shamdasani said at a press conference.
“This could amount to torture or other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law. Nitrogen gas has never been used in the United States to execute human beings.”
UN: ‘Death penalty is an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st Century'
Following the execution of Eugene Smith on Thursday, United Nations spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that the death penalty was “an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st Century” and called on US states to suspend its use.
“We deeply regret the execution of candidate Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” she said.
“Let’s just bring an end to the death penalty. This is an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st century. There is no proof that the death penalty deters crime, but on the contrary, there is a lot of evidence of miscarriages of justice.
“The death penalty is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life, and we urge all states to put in place a moratorium on its use as a step towards universal abolition.”
Kenneth Smith’s last meal, final statement and more
Kenneth Smith was visited in prison by his wife and sons, who also witnessed his execution. His last meal was steak, eggs and hash browns.
Michelle Del Rey with more details here.
Kenneth Smith executed by nitrogen in controversial death row case
Kenneth Smith’s last meal, final statement and more
Kenneth Smith was visited in prison by his wife and sons, who also witnessed his execution by nitrogen on Thursday. His last meal was steak, eggs and hash browns.
Michelle Del Rey with more details here.
Kenneth Smith executed by nitrogen in controversial death row case
Concern over the use of nitrogen gas in inmate executions
Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person in American history to be executed with nitrogen gas.
UN human rights experts and lawyers for Smith had sought to prevent it, saying the method was risky, experimental and could lead to a torturous death or non-fatal injury.
The state has called its new protocol “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man". Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights office, said: “This could amount to torture or other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.”
“Nitrogen gas has never been used in the United States to execute human beings.”
Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Mississippi have also approved similar nitrogen-asphyxiation execution protocols in recent years, but have yet to put them into practice.
"They said lethal injection was humane - that was a lie. They'll claim this execution was humane, and that is a lie, too," said Maya Foa, the US director of Reprieve.
"The whole purpose of these methods is to hide pain. How many more prisoners must die agonizing deaths before we see executions for what they really are: the state violently taking a human life?"
WATCH: Witness describes Kenneth Smith’s historic nitrogen gas execution
Pastor reveals Smith ‘struggled for life’ for 22 minutes in nitrogen gas execution
Kenneth Eugene Smith’s religious adviser Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed the execution, told reporters afterwards that what he saw was a man “struggling for their life” for a staggering 22 minutes.
Alabama authorities had predicted the untested method would lead to unconsciousness within seconds and death in only a matter of minutes.
Following the execution, the state continued to insist the execution went to plan.
But, witnesses said Smith appeared conscious for several minutes, shaking and writhing on the gurney.
“We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds,” said Rev Hood.
“Heaving back and forth, we saw spit, we saw all sorts of stuff develop from the mask. The mask was tied to the gurney, ripping his head back and forth over and over again.”
Alabama prison officials insist ‘nothing was out of the ordinary’ in 22-minute execution
Alabama prison officials continue to insist that the execution went as planned – despite witnesses saying Kenneth Eugene Smith’s death appeared to be anything but quick and painless.
Witnesses said that Smith took around 22 minutes to die in total.
According to the members of the media in the room, he appeared conscious for several minutes into the execution and at the two-minute mark he started shaking and writhing on the gurney.
This was followed by several minutes of deep breathes as he lay on the gurney before his breathe slowed to no longer being perceptive.
He was pronounced dead at 8.25pm CT.
However, John Hamm, Alabama’s Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said at a press conference that “nothing was out of the ordinary” during the execution.
He claimed that it appeared that Smith had been holding his breathe as long as he could during the execution.
He put reports that Smith was seen struggling against the restraints down to “involuntary movement”.
“That was all expected… nothing was out of the ordinary,” he insisted.
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