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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 ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy
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To: USAF1985

It is NOT a deterrent, nor should it be. It should straight up be used to remove pieces of garbage off the face of the Earth who deserve it…

~~~

First of all, I genuinely believe it is a deterrent. I wouldn’t be for it if it wasn’t. I have seen enough interviews with criminals who have admitted they wouldn’t have commuted their crimes if (a) they didn’t think they would get away with them and (b) that they thought they would get life in prison without parole if they did, or worse, the death penalty. The only exception are psychopaths. They will commit violence regardless.

Secondly, it takes forever to actually get the death sentence after all the appeals. In the states where the death penalty is still legal, most of them never see execution and die of natural causes. If we had shorter periods on death row, not only would the victim’s families get justice faster, but the deterrence level would be even higher.

I’m not saying he didn’t deserve the death penalty. I agree with the death penalty if it was a legitimate fair trial and they were a violent piece of trash. I’m saying that the the death penalty in it’s current form in our justice system doesn’t change what they did to people, but at least deterrence my stop others from having to suffer at the hands of criminals


61 posted on 01/26/2024 1:49:58 PM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: alancarp

A hotshot or morphine will do the trick. Why do these things have to be so complicated.

They should have him watch a film reenactment of his crime on loop while injecting him.


62 posted on 01/26/2024 1:51:11 PM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: USAF1985

GOD established the death penalty after the Flood for certain crimes.

It was usually by stoning. Now a very quick way to go un less you get knocked unconscious right off the bat.

The death penalty, as far as I can see, was never about revenge or retaliation, but about justice and protecting society from recidivism. And it does give would be criminals food for thought.

It would be interesting to see crime stats if the death penalty were enforced in a state as they should be. Especially these days in light of video surveillance footage that leaves no doubt about who the perp is and what they did. Pass the sentence and then enforce it quickly.


63 posted on 01/26/2024 1:56:07 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
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To: RandFan

https://www.al.com/news/2022/11/former-sheriff-recalls-womans-horrific-murder-for-hire-by-pastor-as-alabama-prepares-execution.html

F**” him.


64 posted on 01/26/2024 1:56:48 PM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: oil_dude

Interesting that all the bleeding heart types care about how a callous murderer suffers but not about how their victim(s) suffered.


65 posted on 01/26/2024 1:57:17 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
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To: Fido969

much....my hope is to just die in my sleep thinking I have one or two more years left. the ida of death row is terrifying... even though. I am a Christian and believe that Christ is there for me.


66 posted on 01/26/2024 2:00:39 PM PST by PCPOET7 (`)
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To: RandFan

Don’t they sedate the guy first? If not why not?


67 posted on 01/26/2024 2:03:30 PM PST by 3RIVRS
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To: RandFan

I don’t care... the man walked the earth for 35 years after slaughtering someone for money..

IF they could turn him inside out and he lived and suffered through it all, I would not care!

This isn’t some disputed case, this isn’t some lack of mental ability convict... this guy did it, there is no doubt he did it...

God may have mercy on his soul, but frankly, whatever amount of suffering if any, was not enough for him.


68 posted on 01/26/2024 2:12:48 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: 3RIVRS

He held his breath rather than breath and thrashed around for a few minutes... I am sorry, but I have no sympathy for this man. If he truly truly suffered for the entire time, GOOD.

God may have mercy on his soul, but forgive me if I find absolutely problem with him suffering.. no amount he could suffer will every equal the suffering he brought.


69 posted on 01/26/2024 2:14:41 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: DesertRhino
Rhino is RIGHT!

Your post #29 is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

70 posted on 01/26/2024 2:52:55 PM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: RandFan

Good enough for pigs but not for a murdering felon???

“The animal will breathe 98 per cent nitrogen. Blood oxygen diminishes very quickly and the animal will very soon become unconscious. Because of the extreme oxygen deficiency (anoxia) the animal dies within 1.5-2 minutes. The animal will not regain consciousness and won’t notice that it dies. The animal will be unaware that it breathes in pure nitrogen. It will not be harmful or painful for the animal because the normal air an animal breathes consists already of 80 per cent nitrogen. Inhalation of nitrogen is therefore not stressful,”

https://www.thepigsite.com/news/2013/01/humane-euthanising-using-nitrogen-foam-1


71 posted on 01/26/2024 3:01:31 PM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eye)
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To: RandFan

Oops!

Next!


72 posted on 01/26/2024 3:30:06 PM PST by mywholebodyisaweapon ("Carthago Delenda Est")
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To: Fido969

The record for holding one’s breath is 20 minutes, while staying conscious. Undoubtedly this person who had not trained in a pool could not. He could, however, keep himself conscious for a while, extending the 20s before falling asleep, after which time his body could keep trying to breathe before it gave out. Not that he would be aware of any of that after he lost consciousness, and possibly for a bit before then.


73 posted on 01/26/2024 3:52:27 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Jim W N

but also looks like cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.


Not even remotely what was meant.


74 posted on 01/26/2024 3:54:37 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: BenLurkin

Did Smith”s victim have a pleasant death?????????????


75 posted on 01/26/2024 3:55:40 PM PST by chopperk (e )
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To: lepton
Me: but also looks like cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.

You: Not even remotely what was meant.

Your challenge is gonna need more than just a flat unsupported assertion.

76 posted on 01/26/2024 4:19:07 PM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: chopperk

Check out Post #28. Smith deserved a way worse way to be executed.


77 posted on 01/26/2024 4:24:50 PM PST by Inspectorette
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To: chopperk

Oops, sorry for the typo: should be Post 38.


78 posted on 01/26/2024 4:26:39 PM PST by Inspectorette
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To: RandFan

Also unfortunately, he probably lost consciousness within seconds and the rest was just reflexes...like when you cut the head off a snake. Wife maybe an inmate groupie who met as pen pal,


79 posted on 01/26/2024 4:38:14 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Fido969
"He tried to hold his breath, and previously said he was afraid of dying. I wonder how much of the writhing was more about psychological fear of dying rather than physical pain."

How much of it was that Leninist weirdo spiritual advisor telling him to go for broke?

80 posted on 01/26/2024 4:38:23 PM PST by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
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