New Delhi: Alabama carried out the first execution in the US using nitrogen gas. Kenneth Eugene Smith who was sentenced to death in 1996 for a 1988 murder, was pronounced dead using the method, likened by the UN to “torture.”
The 58-year-old was executed using breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask which causes oxygen deprivation. Lethal injection- introduced in 1982- is now the most commonly used method for execution in the US. Alabama had earlier tried to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line, it was reported.
There was a last-minute legal battle before the execution, in which Kenneth Eugene Smith’s lawyers argued that Alabama was making him the test subject for an experimental execution method, which may violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Earlier, federal courts rejected Kenneth Eugene Smith’s bid after which the US Supreme Court gave the last ruling.
US Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the judgement, “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching.”
Before Kenneth Eugene Smith’s death, his spiritual adviser Reverend Jeff Hood said, “The eyes of the world are on this impending moral apocalypse. Our prayer is that people will not turn their heads. We simply cannot normalise the suffocation of each other.”
In his final hours, Kenneth Eugene Smith met with family members and his spiritual adviser, a prison spokesperson told the Associated Press.
He ate a last meal of T-bone steak, hash browns, toast and eggs slathered in steak sauce. The spokesperson added, “He’s terrified at the torture that could come. But he’s also at peace. One of the things he told me is he is finally getting out.”
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