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Even less than that:
Posted on 01/26/2024 11:44:52 AM PST by RandFan
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at metro.co.uk ...
Beheading. It is gruesome and bloody but evidently quick and relatively painless. In medieval times, people under sentence of death would often pay the executioner to behead them instead of hanging since beheading was viewed as much more preferable.
That is for a 1000# horse.
Is there some reason to use this new method, instead of lethal injection? Seems like that method is both painless and completely effective.
My question is: Why nitrogen and not carbon monoxide?
Rather than call it the “death penalty”, we should call it a punitive abortion. The left loves all kinds of abortions.
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Even less than that:
Thanks to OSHA for the picture.
It is obvious they decided to put on a show.
Nitrogen is not painful. It would not cause you to thrash about.
Lesson learned…sedate prisoner before administering gas.
His spiritual advisor is an anti-death penalty activist. One might as well trust Nancy Pelosi.
Various drug companies have forbiden the use of their drugs for use in lethal injections.
They basically caved to the anti death penalty crowd.
my guess is his victim decades ago suffered an horrific death.......
It didn't. This writer made it all up. 5 minutes from the start he was dead. Sadly I know of an industrial "accident" where a guy went into a confined space that was full of argon. That's all it took, and he never felt a thing. Just went to sleep. Such a death is too good for a murderer.
ha ha Green Mile.
Yep they screwed up. PR disaster and unnecessary ammo to leftists.
Same, I’m guessing he just held his breath to make a big show of it to trigger this exact conversation that is happening in media now.
Thanks for the info. They made it sound like the guy was writhing for 22 minutes. If the 22 minutes describes the entire procedure than that is reasonable.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Twenty-two minutes.
Ghastly and outrageous.
Not only is this government act unjust double jeopardy, but also looks like cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.
Yeah—how much did his victim suffer? I’m sure a lot more than this vermin did.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Activist have made it nearly impossible to get the lethal injection drugs.
The supplier of those drugs will not sell to the state.
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