First death row inmate executed by nitrogen gas suffered ‘horrific’ death

A witness to the first ever US prisoner to be executed by ‘painless’ nitrogen gas says Kenneth Eugene Smith writhed in agony as he suffered a ‘horrific’ death.

The killer-for-hire, 58, was fitted with a gas mask which was pumped full of 100% nitrogen gas at the execution chamber at the William C. Holman prison in Atmore, Alabama.

State authorities had predicted unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.

But instead Smith took 22 minutes to die, convulsing in his chair and tugging against his restraints for several minutes before losing consciousness.

At one point as the killer thrashed against his restraints, his wife Deanna, wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Never Alone’, reportedly cried out for him from the witness box.

Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for a murder-for-hire killing of a preacher’s wife in 1988, which he was paid just $1000 to commit.

As he spoke his final words, delivered through the gas mask on his face, Smith made a heart sign with his left hand to his family before declaring: ‘Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards… I’m leaving with love, peace and light.’

Jeff Hood, who acted as Smith’s spiritual guide throughout the ordeal, said the execution was the worst thing he’d ever witnessed.

‘When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,’ he said.

There is a much less dramatic AP article here:

https://apnews.com/article/death-penalty-nitrogen-gas-alabama-kenneth-smith-54848cb06ce32d4b462a77b1bb25e656

The go-ahead was 7:56, after which the officer in the chamber checked his mask and his spiritual advisor prayed with him. Smith started thrashing about at 7:58 and that lasted “more than 2 minutes” after which he had deep gasping breaths. No more breathing was visible by 8:08.

So, given the mask-checking and praying after the 7:56 green light, the gas probably didn’t even start until 7:57-ish. Somewhere in there he started holding his breath. The thrashing about started at 7:58, which would be right about the time he was realizing he couldn’t hold his breath much longer. After that, 1-2 breaths would be all it would take to cause unconsciousness. Agonal (slow deep) breathing would continue for several minutes just from brain-stem activity.

By this account, the entire thing was over in 10 minutes, and the struggling less than 3 minutes, which was most likely caused by him trying not to breath and not a reaction to the actual gas or signs that the execution was “botched”.

These accounts and headlines screaming “20 minutes of suffering” are not true and are obviously from those with anti-death penalty agendas.

Just my $0.02

Love,
O2

P.S. Tagline

Holding your breath will only make it worse. Respiratory distress is caused by the inability to exhale carbon dioxide. Hypoxia is "insidious", it causes no discomfort, which is why carbon monoxide is so dangerous. Carbon monoxide bonds with hemoglobin about 200 times more readily than oxygen. Breathing an atmosphere with equal amounts of oxygen and carbon monoxide will result in only 0.5% of the normal amount of oxygen in the blood. Long before that, you lose consciousness and die.

With nitrogen hypoxia there is no oxygen available, but you can readily exhale carbon dioxide and feel no respiratory distress. As I described above, I have experienced hypoxia as part of an Air Force training course. It is actually a painless, and mildly euphoric experience.

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