Attorneys for Alabama inmate Kenneth Smith, who was slated to be the first test subject for the experimental execution method of nitrogen hypoxia, have urged judges to reject the state's request to implement his death sentence using this method.
This development comes despite Smith's initial acceptance of the untested execution method.
According to a court filing from last Friday, Smith's lawyers have petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court to dismiss the state attorney's request to schedule Smith's execution using nitrogen hypoxia, as reported by the Associated Press. Although nitrogen gas is legally sanctioned for use in three states, it has yet to be employed in the execution of an inmate.
Smith's legal team argues that the state has disclosed only minimal information about the practical implementation of nitrogen executions. The only available document is a heavily redacted copy of the proposed protocol, as per the report.
"The state seeks to make Mr. Smith the test subject for the first ever attempted execution by an untested and only recently released protocol for executing condemned people by the novel method of nitrogen hypoxia," stated Smiths attorneys.
The experimental method would induce hypoxia in the inmate by having him inhale pure nitrogen, thereby depriving him of the oxygen necessary for basic bodily functions. The report notes that nitrogen comprises 78% of the air we breathe and is harmless when inhaled in conjunction with oxygen.
While some assert that the proposed method would be painless, others contend that it would constitute human experimentation.
Smith's attorneys further noted that their client had already endured a failed execution attempt in November when the state tried to execute him via lethal injection. However, the Alabama Department of Corrections was forced to abort the execution when they were unable to establish two intravenous lines to Smith, according to the report.
Alabama reportedly sanctioned the use of nitrogen hypoxia in 2018, but has yet to employ it in an execution. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also approved the method, but neither state has used it.
Smith was found guilty in the 1988 contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett in Colbert County. Prosecutors alleged that Smith was one of two men paid $1,000 to murder Sennett at the behest of her heavily indebted husband, who hoped to cash in on her insurance.
The second man implicated in the murder was executed in 2010. Charles Sennett, Elizabeth's husband, took his own life after learning that investigators had identified him as a potential suspect.
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