- In the US state of Alabama, a death row prisoner has been executed for the first time using a new nitrogen method, authorities say.
- The man’s lawyers had previously tried unsuccessfully to fight the execution.
- Human rights activists criticize the fact that the method has never been tested elsewhere.
58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted of murder in 1996, died on Thursday evening (local time) in a prison in the US state of Alabama using so-called nitrogen hypoxia, Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall announced. During the procedure, a person is supplied with nitrogen through a face mask – the result is death from lack of oxygen.
Lawyers’ requests rejected
Human rights experts had previously complained that the method was untested and that Smith could die a cruel death. United Nations experts also believe that it has not been scientifically proven that inhalation of pure nitrogen does not cause serious suffering.
Smith’s lawyers had tried until the very end to stop the execution. But neither the relevant courts in Alabama nor the US Supreme Court followed their requests. In recent days, demonstrators have also called on the governor of Alabama to intervene. But that didn’t happen either.
Judge’s verdict is stricter than intended by the jury
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for participating in a contract killing eight years earlier. Smith was actually scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2022. However, the prison staff were unable to insert the necessary cannula into his arm: after several hours in which he lay strapped to the execution table, he was taken back to his cell.
When he was convicted in 1996, the jury had originally intended a life sentence for Smith. However, the judge responsible at the time ignored this recommendation and imposed the death penalty. Alabama became the last US state to abolish the law that made this possible in 2017.
2,330 people in the USA are currently on death row
Smith’s execution is the first ever in the United States this year. In 2023, 24 death sentences were carried out across the country. 2,330 people sentenced to death are currently on death row, some of them for decades, as was the case with Smith.