In a recent court filing, attorneys for Alabama inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith urged the Alabama Supreme Court to reject the state's request to carry out his death sentence using the untested method of nitrogen hypoxia. Smith's lawyers argued that the state's proposed protocol for nitrogen executions had not been adequately disclosed, with only a redacted version being released. They expressed concern that Smith would essentially be used as a guinea pig for the first-ever attempted execution using this method.

Under the proposed procedure, the inmate would be made to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of the necessary oxygen to sustain bodily functions, ultimately causing death. While proponents of this method argue that it would be painless, opponents have equated it to human experimentation. Smith's attorneys highlighted that he had already been subjected to a failed execution attempt in November 2022 when the state was unable to connect the required intravenous lines for lethal injection.

The lawyers further claimed that Smith's ongoing appeals were being disregarded, and accused the state of attempting to prioritize his execution in order to render his lawsuit challenging lethal injection procedures moot. Alabama authorized the use of nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 but has not yet attempted to carry out a death sentence using this method. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized it but have not utilized it.

Trip Pittman, the former Alabama state senator who proposed the new execution method, dismissed criticism that it was experimental. He argued that people have died from breathing nitrogen in industrial accidents and suicide attempts, providing evidence that the effects of the gas are known. Smith was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Sennett in Alabama's Colbert County. Prosecutors stated that Smith and another man were each paid $1,000 to carry out the crime on behalf of Sennett's husband, who was deeply in debt and sought to collect on insurance. The other man involved in the murder was executed in 2010, while Sennett's husband, a Church of Christ pastor, took his own life when he became a suspect in the investigation.

Alabama has faced challenges in executing inmates in recent years. In September 2022, the execution of Alan Miller was called off due to difficulties in accessing his veins. The state has acknowledged problems with venous access during lethal injections multiple times, including in July 2022 during the execution of Joe Nathan James, which took over three hours to commence. It should be noted that Hall's family had opposed James' execution. In 2018, the execution of Doyle Hamm was also canceled because an intravenous line could not be established.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Alabama currently has 167 inmates on death row awaiting their sentence.