Jeff Hood, who’d previously expressed concern that the method could be inhumane, witnessed the execution and described it in more graphic terms, saying it was “the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.” Related article Supreme Court takes up appeal of Oklahoma death row inmate after state attorney general admitted mistakes Supreme Court on Thursday morning Januin Washington, DC. “So nothing was out of the ordinary of what we were expecting.” Agonal breathing is an irregular, gasping breath pattern that can happen when someone is near death.Ī view of the U.S. “There was some involuntary movement and some agonal breathing, so that was all expected and is in the side effects that we’ve seen and researched on nitrogen hypoxia,” Hamm said. When asked at the news conference about Smith shaking at the beginning of the execution, Hamm said Smith appeared to be holding his breath “for as long as he could” and may have also “struggled against his restraints.” That was followed by several minutes of deep breathing before his breath began slowing “until it was no longer perceptible for media witnesses,” the media witnesses said. Smith, who was on a gurney, appeared conscious for “several minutes into the execution,” and “shook and writhed” for about two minutes after that, media witnesses said in a joint report. Nitrogen flowed for about 15 minutes during the procedure, state corrections commissioner John Hamm said in a news conference. Related article Alabama inmate Kenneth Smith executed with nitrogen gas, marking the emergence of a wholly new method of capital punishment CT, and Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m., according to Alabama Department of Corrections officials. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Smith was fitted with a mask, a device that would be used to administer the nitrogen. “And we stand ready to assist you in implementing this method in your states.”Īs the procedure started Thursday evening at the William C. “Alabama has done it, and now so can you,” Marshall said. The attorney general had a message for colleagues across the country who were monitoring developments in the nation’s first execution using nitrogen hypoxia: It’s the method that Kenneth Smith ultimately chose, along with 43 other death row inmates in our state,” Marshall said. “As of last night, nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution is no longer an untested method. Related article Executions in the US are in decline – but some jurisdictions lead the rest In Alabama, 43 other inmates have requested new execution methodĪfter widespread discussion and speculation about how Smith’s execution would unfold, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told reporters on Friday, “What occurred last night was textbook.” Here’s what we know about the historic execution: So far, Alabama is the only state to have carried it out or even outlined a protocol on how to do it. Smith’s legal team – alongside experts and advocates from the US to the United Nations – had voiced concern that nitrogen hypoxia could lead to excessive pain or even torture.Īlabama is one of only three states – Oklahoma and Mississippi being the others – to have approved the method, which is designed to replace oxygen in the body with a high concentration of nitrogen, causing death. His attorneys fought the execution until the end, ultimately losing a final appeal to the US Supreme Court on Thursday evening. Smith, 58, was sentenced to death for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire and had previously survived a failed attempt to execute him by lethal injection in 2022. Now Alabama’s attorney general wants to help other states interested in using the new form of capital punishment. Alabama inmate Kenneth Smith was put to death Thursday night by nitrogen hypoxia, marking the nation’s first known execution using that method.
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