INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas Thursday, putting him to death with a first-of-its-kind method that once again put
the US at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment
The state said the method would be humane, but critics called it cruel and experimental.Officials said Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was
pronounced dead at 8:25 pm at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation
It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used
method, was introduced in 1982.The state had previously attempted to execute Smith, who was convicted of a 1988 murder-for-hire, in 2022,
that could violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment
Our prayer is that people will not turn their heads
seconds and death within minutes
that the method violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment and deserves more legal scrutiny before it is used on a
When the State is considering using a novel form of execution that has never been attempted anywhere, the public has an interest in ensuring
information is important not only to Smith, who has an extra reason to fear the gurney, but to anyone the State seeks to execute after him
Ketanji Brown Jackson.Final hoursIn his final hours, Smith met with family members and his spiritual adviser, according to a prison
terrified at the torture that could come
Prosecutors said he and the other man were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and
After he would be given a chance to make a final statement, the warden, from another room, would activate the nitrogen gas
And experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council cautioned they believe the execution method could violate the prohibition on
torture.Some states are looking for new ways to execute people because the drugs used in lethal injections have become difficult to find
The state made a last-minute procedural change so he would not be allowed food in the eight hours leading up to the execution.Sennett, 45,
was found dead March 18, 1988, in her home with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck, according to the coroner
Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation focused on him as a suspect, according to court documents
The jury recommended a life sentence by 11-1, but a judge overrode that and sentenced him to death
