Supreme Court authorizes first ever execution by nitrogen-induced hypoxia in the United States

BACKGROUND

Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was hired to murder Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in 1988, will be executed with the first ever use of nitrogen to deprive the body of oxygen TOMORROW at 6pm CST in Atmore, Alabama. In November 2022, he was strapped to a gurney for over an hour, waiting for his lethal injection execution. It could not be done due to state officials unable to find a vein. After this, Smith advocated for his own execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

CONTROVERSY

Despite Smith himself asking for the method of execution, many people met on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol to protest this, calling it 'mental torture' and a 'gas chamber.' During the hearing to discuss whether it should be done, Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour said it was “the most humane method of execution ever devised.”

On the opposing side, Bernard Simelton, a member of the national committee of the NAACP, said at Tuesday's demonstration that the United Nations commissioner for human rights recently warned Smith's execution “could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.”

“This is a sad day for the state of Alabama,” Simelton stated. “We ask Governor Ivey to have a last-minute change of heart and do the right thing and halt this execution. The state does not understand the horror that this individual will go through. This is an experiment and we do not experiment on people.”

SCIENCE OF INERT GAS ASPHYXIATION

Nitrogen, as well as helium, argon, and methane, are able to reduce oxygen concentration in the blood, possibly causing effects at only one to two breaths. These include:

• Unconsciousness

• Low blood pressure

• Cyanosis

• Palpitations

• Seizures

• Mydriasis

• Coma

• And eventually, death

Inert gas asphyxiation would not cause the same response as if you held your breath. There are no carbon dioxide levels in the body rising, therefore your brain doesn't recognize that you are suffocating.

OPEN-ENDED POLL

Is this method of execution humane? Why or why not?