Alabama is preparing to use a new execution method: nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who survived the state's previous attempt to execute him by lethal injection in 2022, is scheduled to be executed Thursday by nitrogen hypoxia.
If carried out, it would be the first new method of execution since lethal injection was introduced in 1982.
The state maintains that nitrogen gas
will quickly cause unconsciousness
, but critics have compared this never-used execution method to human experimentation.
What is nitrogen hypoxia?
Execution by nitrogen hypoxia would cause death by
forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen
, depriving him of the oxygen necessary to maintain bodily functions.
Has it ever been used?
No state
has used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence.
In 2018, Alabama was the third state – along with Oklahoma and Mississippi –
to authorize the use of nitrogen gas
to execute prisoners.
Why do you want to use it?
Some states are looking for new ways to execute inmates because the drugs used in lethal injections, the most common execution method in the United States,
are becoming harder to find.
How is it supposed to work?
Nitrogen, a
colorless, odorless
gas , makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when breathed with adequate levels of oxygen.
Kenneth Eugene Smith.
Photo: Reuters
The theory behind nitrogen hypoxia is that if the composition of the air is changed to 100% nitrogen,
Smith will lose consciousness and die from lack of oxygen.
Much of what is reported in medical journals about deaths from nitrogen exposure comes from
industrial accidents
- in which leaks or mixtures of nitrogen have killed workers - and from suicide attempts.
What does the state plan to do?
After Smith is strapped to the death chamber gurney, the state has stated in a court filing that it will place a "
NIOSH-approved
Type C full face mask" over his face
. a type of mask typically used in industrial settings to deliver vital oxygen.
The director will then
read the death sentence
and ask Smith if he wants to say any last words before
activating "the nitrogen hypoxia system"
from another room.
Nitrogen gas will be administered
for at least 15 minutes or "five minutes
after a flat line indication on the electrocardiogram, whichever is longer," according to the state protocol.
The state
redacted large portions of the protocol
regarding gas system storage and testing.
The Alabama attorney general's office testified before a federal judge that nitrogen gas "causes unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes."
What are the criticisms?
Smith's lawyers maintain that the state intends to make him
the "test subject" of a new method
of execution.
Anti-death penalty groups speak to the press about Smith's case.
Photo: AP
They argue that the mask the state intends to use
is not airtight
and that
the influx of oxygen could prolong the execution
, possibly leaving him in a vegetative state rather than killing him.
A doctor testified on Smith's behalf that the low-oxygen environment
could cause nausea
and cause Smith
to choke to death on his own vomit.
Experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this month warned that in their opinion the method of execution
would violate the prohibition of torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
The American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in 2020 guidelines on euthanasia that nitrogen hypoxia may be an acceptable method of euthanasia under certain conditions for pigs, but not for other mammals because it creates an "anoxic environment that is
distressing to some species."
".
Is it the same as the gas chamber?
Not quite.
Some states previously
used hydrogen cyanide gas,
a lethal gas, for executions.
The last prisoner executed in an American gas chamber was
Walter LaGrand
, the second of two German brothers sentenced to death for murdering a bank manager in 1982 in southern Arizona.
It took LaGrand
18 minutes to die
in 1999.
Who is the inmate?
Smith was one of two men convicted of being the
contract killers
of a preacher's wife in 1988. Prosecutors said Smith and the other man were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth
Sennett
at the request of her husband, who had many debts and wanted to collect the insurance money.
Alabama tried to execute Smith in 2022 by lethal injection.
He was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber being prepared for it, but the state suspended the lethal injection when members of the execution team
had difficulty connecting the second of two
necessary intravenous lines to Smith's veins.
The inmate was tied to the stretcher
for almost four hours,
according to his lawyers, while he waited to see if the execution would go ahead.
Are there legal remedies?
The question of whether the execution can take place will end up in the United States Supreme Court.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday heard arguments on Smith's request to enjoin the execution.
And he accepted the procedure.
Either party could appeal.
Smith alleges that the state's proposed procedures violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
He also alleges that Alabama violated his right to due process by scheduling the execution when appeals are pending and that the face mask will interfere with his ability to pray.
In a separate case, Smith alleges that the state would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment if it attempted to execute him a second time after he survived an execution attempt.
What is potentially at stake?
Lethal injection is the most widely used method of execution in the United States, but death penalty states have sometimes had difficulty obtaining the necessary drugs or encountered
other problems connecting intravenous lines.
If Alabama's enforcement goes ahead,
other states may try to start using
nitrogen gas.
If the Court stops the execution or it is unsuccessful, the use of nitrogen gas as an alternative method of execution could be stopped or delayed.
Translation: Elisa Carnelli