Alabama is preparing to use a new method of execution: nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who survived the state’s previous attempt to put him to death by lethal injection in 2022, is scheduled to be put to death Thursday by nitrogen hypoxia. If carried out, it would the first new method of execution since lethal injection was introduced in 1982. And in appealing to the state not to use that chemical, Smith’s attorneys and other critics, pointed to the deaths of six workers at a Gainesville plant two years ago in begging that the chemical not be used. The U.N. even weighed in: U.N. urges halt is scheduled execution using chemical that killed workers at G’ville plant 97.5 Glory FM | North Georgia’s Family Radio Station (wgtjradio.com)
The state maintains that nitrogen gas will cause unconsciousness quickly but critics have likened the never-used method of execution to human experimentation.
Nitrogen hypoxia execution would cause death by forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him or her of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions.
(Photo courtesy SRN News)