Kenneth Eugene Smith You already know what it’s like to walk towards your death and enter an execution chamber. It happened in November 2022. Everything was planned for him to receive a lethal injectionbut the executioners of a prison in Alabama they did not manage to end their life when multiple attempts to insert an intravenous line failed.
It was one of three failed lethal injection attempts since 2018. in United States in which the condemned survived. But it was his case that ended up paving the way for the application of a new and controversial method of execution that the United Nations considers “cruel, inhuman and degrading”.
It’s about the nitrogen hypoxiaan execution procedure that has not been tested yet and which is intended to be used for the first time this Thursday, January 25.
Smith and his legal team They tried to stop the process with a last-minute legal appeal to the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refuting the legality of the nitrogen gas execution protocol established by the state of Alabama. Even, They asked the Supreme Court to intervenebut in both cases the requests were rejected.
Smith’s lawyers said they will appeal again to the highest US court to try to stop his imminent executionscheduled to occur at any time during a period of 30 hours between Thursday and Friday.
Nitrogen instead of oxygen
Smith He was convicted of the 1988 murder of a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett.. The victim was stabbed and beaten to death in a contract killing ordered by her husband to collect insurance, according to the ruling.
At trial, Smith admitted to having been present when the victim was murdered, but claimed not to have participated in the attack.
The jury found him guilty by an almost unanimous decision (11 to 1) and recommended life sentence without the possibility of parole, but The judge sentenced him to death.
More than 30 years later, everything is scheduled for Smith to become the first person executed by nitrogen hypoxia in the United States and, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, worldwide.
This controversial method works by depriving the body of oxygen through nitrogen respiration pure. How will they do it? That is something that is not entirely clear in the protocol established by the state of alabama, but it is understood Smith will have a mask fitted to his face connected to a nitrogen cylinder. From that moment on, he will breathe only that gas, which will deprive his brain and the rest of his tissues of oxygen, causing his death.
Alabama stated in a court brief that They expect me to lose consciousness in a matter of seconds and die in a matter of minutes.
The UN denounces possible torture
The UN expressed serious concerns about this case through its Human Rights Office.
This organism demanded the state of Alabama stop Smith’s execution when considering that could incur torture. “We are concerned that Smith’s execution under these circumstances may violate the prohibition of torture or other treatment or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishmentas well as his (the convicted person’s) right to effective remedies,” he said Ravina Shamdasanispokesperson for the Human Rights Office.
He recalled that both rights are included in two international human rights treaties signed by the United States: the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The United Nations representative argued that, according to “expert evidence”, the execution by nitrogen hypoxia can entail “special pain and suffering” to the condemned.
The UN Human Rights Office is also concerned that Alabama does not contemplate in its protocol providing the prisoner with a sedative before executing him. “Even the American Veterinary Medical Association recommends giving a sedative to large animals when euthanizing them in this way, while Alabama’s protocol for execution by nitrogen asphyxiation does not provide for sedationShamdasani said.
Furthermore, he criticized the fact that a method never used before was going to be used and reiterated the UN’s position against the death penalty in general. “Instead of inventing new ways to apply capital punishment, we urge all States to establish a moratorium on its use, as a step towards universal abolition,” he said.
Lack of scientific evidence
Some medical professionals warn that Nitrogen hypoxia could cause a series of catastrophic mishaps, from violent seizures to survival in a vegetative state.
There is also the risk for other people present in the room. One of them is Smith’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeff Hoodwho told the BBC that he believes that will be in danger if nitrogen leaks.
Smith himself told the BBC that suffered “panic attacks regularly” because of the fear that the execution produces an untested method.
Alabama has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the United States and has 165 people currently on death row.
Since 2018, the state has been responsible for three failed lethal injection attempts in which the condemned survived. That made me approve, joining Oklahoma and Mississippi, an alternative method of execution because the drugs used in lethal injections have become harder to find, which has contributed to the decline in the use of the death penalty nationwide.
