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View To a kill: 'My view from witness gallery of world's first nitrogen suffocation that will haunt me forever'
Daily Mail UK ^ | Jan 26 | By LEE HEDGEPETH IN ATMORE, ALABAMA

Posted on 01/26/2024 11:23:15 AM PST by RandFan

Twenty-two minutes.

That's how long it might take you to run a few miles. To prepare a meal. To call a loved one. It's also how long it took Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, to die.

As he convulsed and writhed in the tight black straps of his gurney, his wife Deanna began to sob. The slogan on her shirt - 'Never Alone' - reflected in the low light off the thick, dull glass viewing window that separated her in the witness room from her husband in the execution chamber.

In Alabama's William C. Holman prison on Thursday night, soon after 8pm local time, Smith became the first person in history to be put to death via nitrogen hypoxia. Smith had been on death row since 1996 - convicted for a 1988 murder-for-hire, where he was paid just $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett, the wife of a preacher who ordered the hit. This was not the first time the state had tried to kill Smith.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


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To: billorites
They have to find some way to kill people that doesn't require doctors because the AMA went woke over a decade ago and is now officially against the death penalty.

I still think that a firing squad is the best option, but the optics is too politically incorrect.

21 posted on 01/26/2024 11:40:14 AM PST by who_would_fardels_bear (What is left around which to circle the wagons?)
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To: BenLurkin
This creep had a wife?

And sons - according to Wikipedia.

Was she a hybristophile who married him after his incarceration? Did she allow him to adopt her sons?

Don't know.

Regards,

22 posted on 01/26/2024 11:40:34 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: scouter

By the way, even though I made light with my previous post, I will be serious here too and agree that even if they are hardened violent criminals and even if my opinion that capital punishment should happen as a deturrent because deterrence works, I also agree that cruel execution is not humane even for them.

Suffocation is a horrible experience. I was held under water by bullies when I was very young and it was probably just about the most traumatic thing I have experienced. Perhaps gradual hypoxia results in loss of conscious without any sense of pain or panic but if they just instantly put 100% nitrogen in his mask, I am not surprised by this outcome.


23 posted on 01/26/2024 11:40:43 AM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: alancarp

The NKVD had a foolproof method of execution. It was followed by a bottle of free vodka to the executioner. Apparently they had no shortage of condemned and no problem getting ececutioners.


24 posted on 01/26/2024 11:40:58 AM PST by allendale
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To: RandFan

Next time sedate the subject first, then pump him (or her) full of nitrogen while they sleep.


25 posted on 01/26/2024 11:41:05 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: ClearCase_guy
If he struggled for 22 minutes because he was trying to “hold his breath”, I’d like to know how that works. You can’t hold your breath for 22 minutes.

The so-called "struggle" surely consisted merely of autonomic reflexes.

After he could no longer hold his breath, and took his first deep breath of pure N2, it was sure to be "lights out" within seconds.

Article is intentionally obtuse and uses misleading language!

Regards,

26 posted on 01/26/2024 11:42:57 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Fido969

I read something about how it was 2 minutes of tugging at the restraints. So perhaps it was 20 minutes of last-minute bureacracy and delays. Strap him in, would you like to...oh wait, we have a call into the Governor,...okay any last words - oh wait....

The son of the preachers wife said that in 2022 they tried to give him a lethal injection. But he had dehydrated himself so they couldn’t find a vein. This time he held his breath for a couple minutes and squirmed - hoping they would cancel this one too.


27 posted on 01/26/2024 11:43:09 AM PST by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: RandFan

Two points, one, this person sounds like a complete drama queen, and two, it sounds like the execution wasn’t performed correctly. Not that long ago, a heinous murderer would have been broken on the wheel and their gibbeted rotting corpse displayed for all to see and as a warning to others about the price of breaking the law, so lighten up Francis. As for point two, nitrogen asphyxiation is nearly instantaneous and painless as any industrial health and safety expert will tell you. So they effed up and this upset person needs to grow a pair.


28 posted on 01/26/2024 11:43:12 AM PST by SpaceBar
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To: RandFan

Bullshit on 22 minutes. Industrial workers succumb in around 10-20 seconds. The human excrement held his breath for maybe 2 min or less, then drew in one deep breath, and a few seconds later he was gone. The state waited another 20 minutes out of procedure and then had a doctor confirm.


29 posted on 01/26/2024 11:43:15 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI)
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To: RandFan

Lee Hedgepeth leftist PenceofSchiff liar

-fJRoberts-


30 posted on 01/26/2024 11:44:56 AM PST by A strike (Words can have gender, humans cannot.)
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To: RandFan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Georgia_poultry_plant_accident

The liquid nitrogen leak occurred shortly after 10:00 a.m. EST.[2] It was falsely initially reported to have been an explosion.[4] The leak occurred in a freezer room at the plant.[7] Three workers entered the freezer room and immediately died of asphyxiation.[1][8] Additional workers subsequently entered the room, two of whom also died immediately.[7] A sixth person died while being transported to the hospital


31 posted on 01/26/2024 11:44:57 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI)
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To: z3n

Duran Duran had a few good songs in the 80’s. The theme song to that movie was not one of them, and horrid though it was, it set the tone for the rest of the movie. Twas a shame, too because Christopher Walken had the potential to be a great Bond villian.


32 posted on 01/26/2024 11:45:23 AM PST by Joe 6-pack
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To: RandFan

I worked at a chemical plant that had a multi-story warehouse where materials were kept in a nitrogen atmosphere and we were supposed to work in pairs with a partner outside the area watching us in case we passed out while doing whatever we were doing, I always ignored it of course.

“In June last year, a researcher fell to the ground while manually filling a flask and tank with liquid nitrogen. A colleague entered the room and heard escaping gas which she identified as nitrogen. She turned off the gas and then collapsed in a heap on top of the first victim. A third and fourth colleague entered the room; they had to leave for fresh air and were unable to pull the victims clear. The research worker’s colleagues survived and could give evidence to the investigating Sheriff Court. Unfortunately, the first researcher died of asphyxiation.”


33 posted on 01/26/2024 11:45:47 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: RandFan

All of these “he suffered” stories are coming from the UK.


34 posted on 01/26/2024 11:48:35 AM PST by circlecity
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To: billorites

c’mo maa don’t lie; the state did not smother him

It has happened many times accidentally in tanks, usually with the worker unaware


35 posted on 01/26/2024 11:50:28 AM PST by A strike (Words can have gender, humans cannot.)
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To: circlecity

Yes they’re UK based journalists.

I believe they only allowed 5 in? Strange


36 posted on 01/26/2024 11:50:34 AM PST by RandFan
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To: RandFan

Better we remember how Elizabeth Sennett suffered.
From the prosecution document:

“The two men knocked on the door and informed Elizabeth Sennett that they had been told by her husband that they could explore the Sennetts’ property, because they wanted to hunt on the land. Elizabeth Sennett had the two men wait while she called her husband to verify their story. Charles Sennett apparently told his wife to allow them to walk around the property. Elizabeth Sennett remained inside the house while the two men walked around behind the property and, according to the appellant’s statement, drove down the road and then returned. The men again knocked on the door and asked Elizabeth Sennett if they could use the bathroom and get some water. Elizabeth Sennett allowed them into the house and, while John Parker was in the bathroom, the appellant talked to Mrs. Sennett. John Parker approached Elizabeth Sennett from the rear and “blind-sided her.” A beating then ensued, in which the victim apparently struggled for her life. The evidence indicated that during the beating any item within reach was used as a weapon. The men apparently used every piece of a fireplace set, a walking cane, and a piece of galvanized pipe and, after beating her, stabbed her eight times with a survival knife.”

Longer than 22 minutes, and less serene.
22 minutes indeed.


37 posted on 01/26/2024 11:52:08 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI)
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To: RandFan

Now do the minute-by-minute death detail description of the innocent woman this scumbag (Kenneth Smith) murdered.

“Sennett (murder victim) was then “ambushed, violently punched, beaten, and bludgeoned, and stabbed over and over again with the six-inch survival knife that Smith and Parker had brought with them”[9] Smith’s hands were later “puffed up” or “wrapped and bruised,” indicating he was responsible for most of the violence against Sennett.”

So this guy punched, beat, bludgeoned and stabbed his innocent victim leaving his own hands puffed up, wrapped and bruised.

No sympathy. He got off easy. I hope he accepted Jesus as his Savior before he died.


38 posted on 01/26/2024 11:52:26 AM PST by Reddy (BO stinks)
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To: RandFan

Wonder how the victim felt as she was being stabbed to death?


39 posted on 01/26/2024 11:52:45 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( In a quaint alleyway, they graciously signaled for a vehicle on the main road to lead the way. )
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To: billorites

Probably Elizabeth Sennett...


40 posted on 01/26/2024 11:56:17 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI)
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