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Killer Kenneth Eugene Smith could be first person to be executed by pure Nitrogen

Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted of killing a preacher’s wife in 1988, said he prefers this method over lethal injection

ATMORE, ALABAMA: Alabama is preparing to execute Kenneth Smith by nitrogen hypoxia, a method that has never been used before in the United States.

Smith, who was convicted of killing a preacher’s wife in 1988, said he prefers this method over lethal injection.

What is nitrogen hypoxia and how does it work?

Nitrogen hypoxia involves forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen which deprives the body of oxygen and eventually causes death.

Supporters of this method claim it is painless and humane while critics argue it is experimental and untested.

Why did Alabama choose nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method?

Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 as an alternative to lethal injection which has faced legal challenges and drug shortages.

However, the state has not attempted to use it until now. Alabama has been working for several years to develop the nitrogen hypoxia execution method, but has disclosed little about its plans, the Daily Mail noted. 

The attorney general’s court filing did not describe the details of how the execution would be carried out.

Corrections Commissioner John Hamm last month, reportedly said that a protocol was nearly complete.

A number of Alabama inmates seeking to block their executions by lethal injection, including Smith, have argued they should be allowed to die by nitrogen hypoxia.

Smith’s lethal injection was aborted last year due to IV issues. It was Alabama’s third failed execution since 2018.

Governor Ivey paused executions for a review. However, lethal injections resumed last month.

Who is Kenneth Smith and what did he do?

Smith was one of two men who were paid $1,000 each by Charles Sennett Sr, a Church of Christ pastor, to murder his wife Elizabeth Sennett.

Sennett wanted to collect on his wife’s life insurance policy because he was in debt. He killed himself when the investigation began to focus on him as a suspect.

Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the home she shared with her husband on Coon Dog Cemetery Road in Alabama’s Colbert County.

Sennett was said to be a  devoted mother and church member who had no idea that her husband was plotting her murder. She was shot twice in the head while she was asleep.

When is Alabama execute Kenneth Smith?

Smith and his accomplice John Forrest Parker confessed to their roles in the crime and implicated Sennett as the mastermind. Parker was executed in 2010.

Smith’s execution date has not been set yet, but the Alabama attorney general’s office has asked the state Supreme Court to do so as reported by the publication. 

The Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy group, has said it will challenge the use of nitrogen hypoxia in court.

“It is a travesty that Kenneth Smith has been able to avoid his death sentence for nearly 35 years after being convicted of the heinous murder-for-hire slaying of an innocent woman, Elizabeth Sennett,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement on Friday.