Alabama is poised to become the first state to execute a prisoner using nitrogen inhalation.
The state's attorney general's office has requested the Alabama Supreme Court to set a date for the execution of death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. The use of nitrogen hypoxia for executions has been authorized in three states, but it has never been employed.
The decision to employ nitrogen hypoxia comes in response to a shortage of drugs for lethal injections. Alabama authorized the use of this method in 2018, but it has not been utilized thus far. Mississippi and Oklahoma are the only other states that have authorized nitrogen hypoxia, but neither has carried out an execution using this method.
However, Alabama's intention to use nitrogen hypoxia is expected to ignite a fresh round of legal battles, as the constitutionality of this execution method remains contentious. The Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy group focused on death penalty issues, has criticized Alabama's history of "failed and flawed executions and execution attempts." The group argues that experimenting with an untested method is ill-advised.
Angie Setzer, senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative, stated, "No state in the country has executed a person using nitrogen hypoxia, and Alabama is in no position to experiment with a completely unproven and unused method for executing someone."
Previously, Alabama attempted to execute Smith via lethal injection in 2022, but the procedure was halted due to difficulties in inserting the IV into his veins. This marked the state's second failed execution in just two months and the third since 2018. Consequently, Governor Kay Ivey suspended executions to conduct an internal review of lethal injection procedures. Lethal injections were only resumed last month.
Smith was convicted for his involvement in the 1988 murder-for-hire of a preacher's wife. He and another individual carried out the heinous act. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall expressed his frustration, stating, "It is a travesty that Kenneth Smith has been able to avoid his death sentence for nearly 35 years after being convicted of the heinous murder-for-hire slaying of an innocent woman."
Several Alabama inmates, including Smith, have sought to block their executions by lethal injection, arguing that they should be allowed to choose nitrogen hypoxia as their method of execution.
Nitrogen hypoxia involves inhaling pure nitrogen, which deprives the body of oxygen. Nitrogen constitutes 78% of the air humans breathe, but it is harmless when mixed with oxygen. While proponents claim that this method would be painless, critics argue that it amounts to human experimentation.
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