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Alabama carries out ‘experimental’ first US nitrogen gas execution

A convicted murderer in the US has become the first inmate in the world to be executed with nitrogen gas.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed by the state of Alabama after the US Supreme Court declined to intervene.

The state failed to execute him by legal injection in 2022 because officials were unable to put an intravenous line into his body.

Smith – who was convicted of killing a pastor’s wife, Elizabeth Sennet, in a 1988 murder-for-hire case – officially died at 8.25pm local time (2.25am UK) on Thursday.

Death by nitrogen hypoxia is highly controversial but as the drugs for lethal injections have become increasingly hard to come by, more executions using the alternative method could follow.

What happened during Smith’s execution?

Witnesses, including five journalists, said Smith’s execution took around 22 minutes and he appeared to stay conscious for several minutes.

They observed him shaking, writing and pulling on restraints for at least two minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing.

“It appeared that Smith was holding his breath as long as he could,” Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told a press conference. “He struggled against the restraints a little bit but it’s an involuntary movement and some agonal breathing. So that was all expected.”

Alabama authorities had predicted he would fall into unconsciousness in seconds and die within minutes, calling the new protocol “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man”.

In a final statement, Smith said: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. I’m leaving with love, peace and light.”

He made the ‘I love you’ sign toward his wife and other family members who were witnesses.

“Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you,” he said, according to the witnesses.

Rev Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual adviser, was at Smith’s side for the execution, and said prison officials in the room “were visibly surprised at how bad this thing went”.

“What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life,” Hood, attending his fifth execution in the last 15 months, told reporters. “We saw minutes of someone heaving back and forth. We saw spit. We saw all sorts of stuff from his mouth develop on the mask. We saw this mask tied to the gurney, and him ripping his head forward over and over and over again.”

Alabama first tried to execute Smith in 2022 by lethal injection, but aborted the attempt after hours of failed efforts to insert an intravenous line into his collarbone area.

His lawyers characterised the experience as torture and said it “exposed him to the severe mental anguish of a mock execution”.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey confirmed Smith’s death in a statement, saying: “After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes.

“I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.”

Could more nitrogen gas executions follow?

Asphyxiation by nitrogen gas is the first new method of capital punishment since lethal injections began in the US four decades ago.

It is a highly controversial execution method and Smith is the first person in the world to be put to death using it, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Human rights groups, United Nations torture experts and lawyers for Smith had sought to prevent it, saying the method was risky, experimental and could lead to an agonizing death or non-fatal injury.

Alabama and two other US states – Oklahoma and Mississippi – have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method as the drugs used in lethal injections have become more difficult to find.

Nitrogen hypoxia involves fitting a mask tightly to the face, covering the nose and mouth, and then feeding it with nitrogen gas to starve the body of oxygen, eventually causing suffocation.

Why was Smith on death row?

In 1988, Pastor Charles Sennett Senior hired one of his tenants to murder his 45-year-old wife, Elizabeth Sennett. He claimed that he was deeply in debt and wanted to claim on the insurance money.

Williams recruited Kenneth Smith and John Forrest Parker to assist him in the murder, with Pastor Sennett agreeing to pay each of the men $1,000 (ÂŁ785) for the murder.

On 18 March, Ms Sennett was found left for dead in her home in Colbert County, Alabama, having been beaten with a fireplace implement and stabbed repeatedly in the chest and neck.

She was rushed to hospital but later declared dead by doctors.

Investigators suspected that Ms Sennett’s home had been staged to make it look as if there had been a home invasion.

They later received a call from Crime Stoppers providing the suspect’s names.

On 25 March, Pastor Sennett was brought in for questioning by police. As he was leaving, an officer asked him if he knew Kenneth Smith and he turned red.

Pastor Sennett left the police station and went to his church, where he met his sons and their families and admitted to having an affair and having their mother killed. He then went to the parking lot, got in his truck and fatally shot himself.

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