An appeals court has authorized the nation's first execution with nitrogen gas to take place this Thursday. The decision came after the Supreme Court rejected at the last minute a request for a stay sought by Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate in Alabama.
Smith, 58, faces sentencing for his role in a 1988 homicide. The defendant alleged that the method of execution - nitrogen hypoxia - violates the prohibition of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution that establishes a convicted person's right not to receive cruel and unusual punishment.
However, the appeals court overwhelmingly concluded that "Supreme Court precedent is clear that a new method of execution does not automatically establish a claim for cruel and unusual punishment."
Alabama approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia in 2018
Alabama approved execution using the nitrogen hypoxia method in 2018. In November 2022, Smith was sentenced to die by lethal injection, but the execution was stayed due to complications. After this, the state temporarily banned all executions.
Smith's lawyers allege that any failure in the process in which the nitrogen is administered could expose him to "additional pain" (which they consider cruel). However, Steve Marshall, the state's attorney general, called the concerns raised by Smith's legal team "speculative."
In 1988, Smith (who was 22 years old) was hired by a pastor (Charles Sennett) to kill his wife so he could collect on her life insurance. The pastor paid $1,000 to the accused and two other people to carry out the crime. Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was stabbed and beaten to death in her home.
