Posted on 08/26/2023 2:39:43 PM PDT by Libloather
A murderer who killed a preacher's wife in 1988 is set to become the first death row inmate in America to be executed with nitrogen.
Alabama officials want to put Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, to death by nitrogen hypoxia - forcing him to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to die.
Several states have authorized the method, which is said to be painless, but it has still never been used.
Critics have said authorities would be 'experimenting with a never before used method - but even Smith has said he would prefer death by nitrogen to a lethal injection.
The Alabama attorney general's office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for Smith. The court filing indicated Alabama plans to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia.
Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. Proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless.
Alabama authorized the method in 2018 amid a shortage of drugs used to carry out lethal injections, but the state has not attempted to use it until now to carry out a death sentence.
Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia, but have not used it.
The disclosure that Alabama is ready to use nitrogen hypoxia is expected to set off a new round of legal battles over the constitutionality of the method.
Smith was one of two men paid $1,000 each to murder Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her preacher husband, Charles Sennett Sr., who was in debt and wanted to collect life insurance money.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yes, I knew these things already. Nitrogen is indeed cheaper, but it doesn’t produce a comical timbre in one’s voice.
1988? He’s had 35 years more of life than his victim. Swift and certain punishment strikes again.
People want to know: What the hell took so long?
I think murderers should be put to death with the same method that they killed their victim(s).
There is no easier way to die.
Anyway, he did the crime, now he has to pay. No loss.
What happened to the preacher who hired this killer?
Except maybe a shotgun to the back of the dome, but that’s messy.
After 35 years on death row, I gotta believe that thrift doesn’t enter into the equation.
You sound like someone who’s been a diver, I think this way would be humane. I’m just trying hard to care about the pain of a murderer.
You do not want to hang a 600 pound man. And these jamokes would find a way to pack on the pounds. If the drop is not far enough, the convict “dances” on the noose and slowly and painfully suffocates. The Libs will be crying “cruel and unusual” in a heartbeat. Though hopefully, not the convict’s heartbeat. Too long a drop and their head is pulled off. When the U.S. executed prisoners at Nuremburg (they were denied the soldierly privilege of a firing squad) they hired a charlatan with little to no experience who botched the entire process. There is (though it may no longer be current) an Army field manual on hanging. Since soldiers are executed by firing squad, they probably do not have much use for it.
I am holding out for “Old Sparky” and not more than 9 months after the trial.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...
Nine months? At the expense of the taxpayers, INCLUDING the family members of the victim? How about 9 WEEKS MAX? Nope, that’s only possible in a CIVILIZED country!
Dry ice in an enclosed room almost got me twice. Power was out so we kept walk in coolers cold with dry ice. The CO2 displaces the oxygen. Kill floors for Pigs uses CO2.
< sigh >
DO NOT attempt to breathe pure nitrogen.
I repeat DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BREATHE PURE NITROGEN. IT WILL KILLYOU.
Not because nitrogen is poisonous ... it isn't.
Pure nitrogen will kill you because it contains no oxygen.
“ I am holding out for “Old Sparky” and not more than 9 months after the trial.”
Damn, you beat me to it!
Drop him in the ocean 50 miles off shore and chum the water for sharks.
Gas, like hydrogen cyanide? Hydrogen cyanide has been used and causes the effects you describe.
The only thing that would be painless is something that completely destroys the brain before it has time to register pain.
He killed himself a week after his wife's murder when the investigators started looking into his involvement.
Not at all painful. (I know from personal experience.) More of a pleasant high. Breathing 100% oxygen at altitude causes bubbles of O2 to come out of solution afterwards, which is itchy and annoying. Not something the convict needs to worry about.
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