The execution of the American Kenneth Eugene Smith (58), sentenced to death by nitrogen asphyxiation, could take place this Thursday (25) in Alabama in the southeast of the United States. Smith is just waiting for a response from the justice system to make a final attempt to avoid execution. He was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2022, but survived.
The unprecedented nitrogen asphyxiation technique that the state of Alabama can use is to administer this gas through a mask. The method is controversial.
In recent days, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the method could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and called for the plan to be abandoned.
This Wednesday (24), in one of the last attempts to overturn the verdict, the Supreme Court rejected the postponement and authorized the state of Alabama to proceed with the execution. The Supreme Court justices refused to discuss the legal arguments the defense claims that he has already suffered one execution attempt, that it caused trauma and that he should not be allowed to be executed a second time.
Last Tuesday (23), Smith's defense submitted to the court that the man was vomiting profusely and feeling ill and that this could increase the risk of complications. However, the judge responsible stated that this did not change anything and was not a reason to stop the execution.
Without a decision, Alabama will seek the death penalty for Smith. The state of Alabama defended its decision in court, arguing that it was “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever invented.”
According to a recent poll by Gallup a US polling company 53% of Americans support the death penalty for someone convicted of murder, the lowest level since 1972.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, while the governors of six other states Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have suspended its use.
Understand the case of Kenneth Eugene Smith
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, killed a woman in March 1998 at the request of her husband, who was in debt and wanted to receive money from the woman's life insurance policy. Prosecutors said he and the other man received $1,000 for killing Elizabeth Sennett.
The crime took place in a small town in Alabama and John Forrest Parker, who was involved in the crime alongside Smith, was convicted of murder and executed in 2010.
Elizabeth was 45 years old. According to the coroner's office, she was found dead in her home on March 18, 1988, with eight stab wounds to her chest and one on each side of her neck. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., committed suicide when the investigation identified him as a suspect.
What is Nitrogen Hypoxia?
Execution by nitrogen hypoxia would result in death because the prisoner would be forced to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him of the oxygen necessary to maintain body functions.
*with information from AFP*
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