Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate in Alabama, is expected to become
the first person in the United States executed
with nitrogen gas on Thursday
,
after losing last-minute appeals.
A Federal Appeals Court
refused to block
what Kenneth Eugene Smith's lawyers called
a "cruel and unusual" punishment.
Opponents say
using nitrogen could cause unnecessary suffering
and that
a leak could harm people
in the room.
Smith, 58, was convicted in 1989 of the murder of Elizabeth Sennett a year earlier.
The Alabama Execution Chamber.
Photo: AP
Alabama has 30 hours to carry out the execution, which
involves pumping nitrogen gas through a mask,
starting Thursday at 3 a.m. Argentine time.
Smith would be the first person executed by this method in the United States and, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, anywhere in the world.
How the justices voted on Smith's case
In its split decision, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday night rejected Kenneth Eugene Smith's request for an injunction to stop his execution for
nitrogen hypoxia.
Smith's lawyers have argued that the state is trying to make him a
test subject for an experimental execution method,
and they are scheduled to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to stop the execution.
The justices said in
their 2-1 decision
that "there is no doubt that death by nitrogen hypoxia is new and novel," but that Smith's lawyers had not shown that it is a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and cruel punishment. unusual.
In her dissent, Circuit Judge Jill A. Pryor said
there are “real questions” about the protocol and what Smith will experience.
Anti-death penalty activists speak to the press about Smith's case.
Photo: AP
“He will die.
The cost, I fear,
will be Mr. Smith's human dignity
, and ours,” Pryor wrote in a dissenting statement.
Robert Grass, Smith's attorney, declined to comment Wednesday night.
A murder for hire
Smith, 58, is one of two men convicted of
the murder-for-hire of a preacher's wife
in 1988, a crime that shocked a small north Alabama community.
According to the indictment, Smith and the other man
received $1,000 each to kill Elizabeth Sennett
on behalf of her husband, who was mired in debt and wanted to collect on the insurance.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall
praised the decision to allow the execution to proceed.
“That's two courts that have rejected Smith's arguments,” Marshall said.
“I remain confident that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of justice, and that Smith's execution will take place tomorrow.”
The new method of execution involves placing a
respirator-like mask over the nose
and mouth to replace breathable air with nitrogen,
causing death from lack of oxygen
.
The state predicted in court filings that the gas will cause an inmate to lose consciousness within seconds and cause death within minutes.
Critics of this untested method say the state
cannot predict what will happen
and what Smith will feel after the guard turns on the gas.
His lawyers say he is at risk of prolonged suffering and
drowning in his own vomit.
This system used in the euthanasia of dogs and cats first requires sedation of the animals so that they do not suffer.
Something that is not foreseen in Smith's case.
With information from the Associated Press