Kenneth Eugene Smith is the first person in history to be executed with nitrogen gas.
The convicted murderer, 58, had a tight gas mask placed over his nose and mouth before a stream of 100 percent nitrogen gas suffocated him in the execution chamber at William C. Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama.
Smith was officially pronounced dead at 8:25 a.m. local time, after a 22-minute ordeal in which he apparently remained conscious for several minutes. Shaking violently, he tightened the restraints on the stretcher and continued to breathe in the nitrogen gas violently until he succumbed and passed out.
In his final words, spoken through the gas mask on his face, Smith said: “Tonight, Alabama is causing humanity to take a step back… I leave with love, peace and light.”
He made an “I love you” sign with his hands to his family on the witness stand and added: “Thank you so much for supporting me. 'Love, love you all.'
He was sentenced to death in 1996 for the contract killing of a preacher's wife, although he was only paid $1,000 for the murder.
Smith's pastor, John Ewell, told before his execution that the killer was “really struggling with the reality of his impending death,” and officials said he had barely touched his last meal of steak, hash browns and eggs from Waffle House.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 after admitting to the contract killing of a pastor's wife, who was beaten and stabbed to death in 1988. On Thursday evening he became the first person in US history to be executed with nitrogen gas
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, (right) was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple's home in Colbert County, Alabama. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck
The convicted murderer, 58, was executed in the execution chamber at the William C. Holman Facility in Atmore, Alabama
The historic execution divided opinion, including among Supreme Court justices, who voted 6-3 to allow the procedure to be carried out using the untested method previously labeled “torture” by the United Nations.
Smith's execution was the first time a new method had been used on America's death row since lethal injections were introduced 42 years ago.
But one of the main reasons Alabama resorted to nitrogen gas in Smith's execution was the widespread difficulty American prisons have had in obtaining lethal injections in recent years.
Before his latest appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court, Smith's pastor told he had “great hope that this thing will be stopped” – after his previously scheduled execution in November 2022, after hours of painful attempts to stop the execution. had been canceled inject him with an IV.
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Smith's final day began with him refusing a breakfast of eggs, cookies, grape jelly, applesauce and orange juice.
He was then given a lunch tray but again declined it, despite drinking Mountain Dew, Pepsi and coffee.
Smith was ordered to drink only clear liquids starting at 4 p.m. after barely touching his last meal, which came from the Waffle House slathered in steak sauce.
His final phone call was with his wife Deanna Smith, who was among the few witnesses to the execution, including Smith's sons Steven Tiggleman and Michael Bryant, his friend Harold Hedgepeth and attorney Robert Glass.
Also in attendance were the sons of his victim, Elizabeth Sennett, who told 1819 News they wanted to watch to ensure the 35-year case of their mother's killer was “closed.”
'He is [Smith] Actually, he was probably laughing, or because he said he would get out of the first one, and he did. So we'd better go through with this or we'll have serious problems,” Charles Sennett added before the execution.
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was murdered by Smith and another man in 1989 after her husband paid them $1,000 each to kill her so he could collect on her insurance
Heavy security personnel were stationed outside the prison ahead of the execution, and some protesters gathered nearby to demonstrate against the untested execution method
The execution method divided opinion for weeks leading up to the final date, with some believing Smith's 1988 crime was worthy of his place on death row.
Smith, 22, was one of two men convicted of the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett, 45, the wife of preacher Charles Sennet Sr., who had hired the men to kill his wife in an insurance plot.
His original 1989 conviction was overturned on appeal, but he was retried and resentenced in 1996 and sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said he and John Forrest Parker each received $1,000 for the hit, with Sennett's husband hoping to claim their insurance because he was deeply in debt.
She was found dead in her Colbert County home on March 18 of that year, with eight stab wounds to her chest and one on each side of her neck.
After Charles Sennett Sr. found out that he was suspected of being involved in the conspiracy, he took his own life.
The controversial execution was praised by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey following news of Smith's death, believing it served justice for Sennett's murder.
Ivey said in a statement: “After more than 30 years and one attempt after another to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his terrible crimes.”
“I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can experience separation after all the years they have struggled with this great loss.”
John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted of the killing, was executed in 2010
Despite warnings from human rights groups against using the method, AG Marshall insisted Smith's fears were unfounded. Citing experts, including euthanasia expert Dr. Philip Nitschke, told Marshall that nitrogen hypoxia was a “peaceful” way to end a human life.
In the dissenting opinion approving the execution by the Supreme Court just hours before Smith's death, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that she found the method of execution cruel.
Smith wore a mask that had never been fitted to his face until the moment he was strapped in, and officers were prohibited from intervening even when he began to choke on his own vomit.
Although Smith was given the opportunity to say his final words, he was also forced to speak them through the gas mask before the nitrogen was turned on.
Sotomayor considered Smith a “surprising candidate” for the untested method – his previously scheduled execution in November 2022 was canceled after hours of painful attempts to inject him with an IV.
Smith recalled being in “a lot of pain” because those tasked with injecting the deadly drugs – midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride – stabbed his muscle instead of finding a vein.
Smith has since said that the incessant stabbings became so ridiculous that they became a farce, particularly when one of the executioners finally asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein more prominent – a request Smith refused.
Unable to find a second usable vein, Smith's gurney was tilted so his feet were facing up. He suspected this was an attempt to get blood to his head and leave a more prominent vein in his neck.
He stood for a few minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle to try to attach a so-called central venous catheter, which is much longer than a normal intravenous line and extends to a vein near or inside the heart.
Smith reported that after several attempts to successfully use the larger needle, this pain became so unbearable that he trembled and became wet.
Despite warnings from human rights groups, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the execution was gentler than Smith deserves
One of the arguments Smith's lawyers raised before the execution was the possibility that the nitrogen gas mask might not be tight enough, allowing a small amount of oxygen to enter and causing extreme breathing pain.
Euthanasia expert Dr. Philip Nitschke replied that nitrogen hypoxia was a painless way to die.
Officials added that the gas mask was tested extensively, with AG Marshall saying the equipment was tested to ensure the execution was as humane as possible.
Marshall also cited Nitschke's support of nitrogen hypoxia in euthanasia as further evidence of how painless the execution will be.
The planned use of nitrogen gas for the first time sparked outrage among human rights and prison reform advocates in the weeks leading up to Thursday's scheduled execution.
Reprieve, an international human rights organization that focuses on incarceration, told that even planning Smith's execution using nitrogen hypoxia was a farce.
“Execution with nitrogen gas is the latest attempt to conceal the violence of the state that claims a human life,” the organization said.
“Despite nearly fifty years of horrific scenes in the execution chamber in which prisoners suffer agonizing deaths, supporters of the death penalty persist in the lie that it can be carried out humanely.”
“Alabama is once again trying to hide the reality of what is going on in the execution chamber by switching methods to avoid having to answer questions about what went wrong last time and is now proposing one method as a way out to use that has been rejected by veterinarians.” Killing animals.
“Witnesses cannot tell how much Kenneth Smith is suffering because the nitrogen is killing him: like the lethal injection protocol before it, the nitrogen protocol is specifically designed to hide pain.”
“The state of Alabama once tortured Mr. Smith by stabbing him with needles for hours, and by using him as a guinea pig for a dangerous, untested new method of execution, it is torturing him again.”