![Alabama helps other states introduce nitrogen asphyxiation](https://i-invdn-com.investing.com/trkd-images/LYNXMPEK0P0O7_L.jpg)
![Alabama helps other states introduce nitrogen asphyxiation](https://i-invdn-com.investing.com/trkd-images/LYNXMPEK0P0O7_L.jpg)
©Reuters. Law enforcement conducts a vehicle search at the gates of the Holman Correctional Facility before the scheduled execution by asphyxiation with pure nitrogen of 1988 convicted murderer Kenneth Smith in Atmore, Alabama, USA.
2/2
Written by Jonathan Allen
(Reuters) – Alabama on Friday said the United States is exploring execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation, hours after it developed a new way to kill prisoner Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of a 1988 murder. offered assistance to other states.
The state has pledged to take more steps in Alabama, where Attorney General Steve Marshall said 43 other death row inmates have received suffocation rather than lethal injection since lawmakers approved the method in 2018. He said he is choosing.
Alabama called the new method „humane“ and human rights groups denounced it as cruel and torturous. A spokesman for Democratic President Joe Biden, who campaigned on an unfulfilled promise to abolish the federal death penalty, called the executions „alarming.“
„Alabama is already doing it, and now you can too. We stand ready to help you implement this in your state,“ Marshall, a Republican, told reporters Friday. Told.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Mississippi have added nitrogen asphyxiation to the list of permitted execution methods in their states, but have not yet used it. Alabama provided an unredacted version of the new protocols to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, according to an Oklahoma State spokesperson.
Marshall said nitrogen asphyxiation, the first new method of execution since lethal injection began in the United States in 1982, is „no longer an untested method.“
„It's proven,“ he said.
Almost half of U.S. states have abolished the death penalty, but lethal injection remains the primary method in other states. Lethal injections are becoming increasingly difficult in some states, which are struggling to find the necessary drugs or suitable veins for prisoners, forcing them to consider other methods.
State officials and some who witnessed Smith's public execution Thursday night disagreed about how violent the asphyxiation method was, but Smith was the first person to be executed in 2022. was attempted and, unusually, survived when the executioner had difficulty inserting an intravenous line for the lethal injection.
In a court filing, Alabama said the new method predicted Smith would lose consciousness within about 30 seconds and die shortly thereafter. The executioners wrapped a commercial industrial safety respirator made by Allegro Industries, a Canadian-owned safety products company, around the man's face and connected it to a container of pure nitrogen.
According to reporters, he remained conscious for several minutes after the nitrogen was flushed out, and then began shaking and struggling on the stretcher for about two minutes.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, who stood next to Smith as his spiritual mentor, said Smith stuck his head forward many times as he fought for his life.
Alabama officials said everything was as expected. They said Mr Smith appeared to be holding his breath for as long as possible and suggested the thrashing may have been an „involuntary movement“.
„What happened last night was textbook,“ Marshall said.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kay Thompson said officials are discussing this approach with their counterparts in Alabama.
Under Oklahoma law, lethal injection using the sedative midazolam remains the primary method of execution, and only when a court rules that a prisoner cannot use lethal injection or when the drug is no longer available. will move to alternative means. The state could then proceed with nitrogen asphyxiation, electric chair or firing squad, but that scenario has not yet emerged, the department said.
„We don't have the procedures, we don't have the equipment, and it's probably going to take two years before we're ready to move forward with that method,“ department spokeswoman Thompson said of nitrogen asphyxiation. Oklahoma also doesn't have an electric chair, but this is also a method allowed by state law, she added.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections did not respond to questions.
Prison officials said the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences will perform an autopsy on Smith's body.
Smith was convicted of murder after receiving $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett with an accomplice at the behest of her preacher husband, who later committed suicide.
An 11-1 jury sentenced him to life in prison, but an Alabama judge reversed the decision based on a law that was later repealed. Sennett's relatives witnessed the execution and told reporters afterward that they had forgiven Sennett's killer and were glad it was over.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International USA, and other rights groups condemned the execution.
„The purpose of these tactics is to hide the pain,“ said Maya Foa, co-executive director of advocacy group Repriv. “How many more prisoners will have to die in agony before we see a true execution, where the state violently takes someone’s life?”