Posted on 01/25/2024 6:59:55 PM PST by Morgana
Kenneth Eugene Smith has become the first person in history to be executed with nitrogen gas.
The convicted killer, 58, was put to death in the William C. Holman facility's execution chamber in Atmore, Alabama.
After the reading of his last rights, a tight gas mask was placed over Smith's nose and mouth, before a stream of 100 percent nitrogen gas suffocated him. The gas mask remained on his face for 15 minutes to ensure the murderer was dead.
Witnesses were led into the viewing room at 6:55pm, and Smith was pronounced dead half an hour later. Despite fears over the untested method going wrong, there is no early indication the execution did not go smoothly.
He was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife in 1988, where he was paid just $1,000 for the hit.
Smith's pastor John Ewell told DailyMail.com before his execution that the killer was 'really struggling' with the reality of his imminent death, and officials said he barely touched his final meal of steak, hashbrowns and eggs from Waffle House. The historic execution divided opinions, including among Supreme Court justices who voted 6-3 to allow the procedure to go ahead, with the untested method previously branded 'torture' by the UN.
Smith's execution marked the first time a new method had been used on America's death row since lethal injections were first introduced 42 years ago.
But one of the primary reasons Alabama has turned to nitrogen gas for Smith's execution has been the widespread struggles American prisons have had in obtaining lethal injection drugs in recent years.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That’s why I’m a proponent of a .45ACP round to the brain pan for the death penalty. Quick, easy, it’s over very quickly and it only costs about .50 cents.
The only problem is someone has to clean up the mess.
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