Alabama Seeks Execution of Inmate Using Unprecedented Method of Nitrogen Hypoxia

Montgomery, Ala. - Alabama is making headlines as it seeks to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen. The Alabama attorney general's office has recently asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Smith, who was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife.

This execution method, known as nitrogen hypoxia, is authorized in three states but has never been used. Nitrogen hypoxia involves forcing inmates to exclusively breathe nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to pass out and die. Nitrogen, which constitutes 78% of the air inhaled by humans, is harmless when combined with oxygen. However, critics have likened this untested method to human experimentation.

Alabama authorized the use of nitrogen hypoxia in 2018, but the state has not yet attempted to carry out a death sentence using this method. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia, but like Alabama, they have yet to employ it. The lack of usage has fueled the ongoing debate over the constitutionality and ethical implications of this novel execution method.

In recent years, Alabama has been working diligently to develop the execution protocol for nitrogen hypoxia, although limited information has been disclosed about the proposal. The attorney general's court filing did not provide details about how the execution would be carried out. However, Corrections Commissioner John Hamm stated last month that a protocol was nearly complete.

Smith's execution by lethal injection was called off last year due to complications with intravenous lines, marking the second time in two months and the third since 2018 that Alabama had failed to carry out an execution. As a result of these botched attempts, Republican Governor Kay Ivey halted executions to conduct an internal review of lethal injection procedures. Lethal injections have since resumed in the state.

The murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett, the preacher's wife, shocked the small north Alabama community in 1988. Prosecutors claimed that Smith and another man were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and sought to collect insurance money. The revelation that Alabama is now ready to use nitrogen hypoxia is expected to ignite a fresh round of legal battles regarding the constitutionality of this new method.

Critics argue that Alabama's history of "failed and flawed executions and execution attempts" raises concerns about their capability to experiment with this unproven approach, according to Angie Setzer, senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy group opposing the death penalty. Setzer firmly stated, "No state in the country has executed a person using nitrogen hypoxia, and Alabama is in no position to experiment with a completely unproven and unused method for executing someone."

As Alabama's request to set an execution date for Kenneth Smith is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court, the future of nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method remains uncertain. The outcome of this case is anticipated to have significant implications and may shape the future of capital punishment in the state and beyond.

(Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.).