Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate in Alabama, is scheduled to be the first person executed by nitrogen hypoxia, an untested and controversial method. Smith, who survived a botched lethal injection in 2022, is set to inhale the lethal gas for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire plot. The procedure involves depriving the inmate of oxygen by forcing them to breathe pure nitrogen, with the goal of causing death within minutes.
Smith’s lawyers argue that he is essentially being used as a lab rat for this new method, which has only been documented in medical journals in cases of accidental exposure or suicide attempts. The defense claims that using nitrogen gas for execution could lead to inhumane and painful deaths, invoking concerns from the United Nations as well.
Despite legal challenges and concerns raised by experts, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Smith’s request for a stay of execution, allowing Alabama to proceed with the plan. The state defends nitrogen hypoxia as a painless and humane method of execution, but Smith’s lawyers have raised concerns about potential risks, including the possibility of prolonged suffering or a vegetative state due to oxygen seeping into the mask.
Legal precedents from previous Supreme Court cases have established that the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee inmates a painless death, and the burden of proof to show a method is inhumane has shifted from the state to the inmate. Smith is scheduled for execution within a 30-hour window, sparking a debate about the ethics and human rights implications of using nitrogen gas for capital punishment.
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