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Alabama Executes Inmate With New Nitrogen Gas Method At Atmore Prison
January 26, 2024
Kenneth Eugene Smith was the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia Thursday night at Holman Prison in Atmore.
Smith was sentenced to death for the 1988 capital murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in Colbert County.
Smith’s last words, according to media witnesses, included: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards…. Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you.” Whne the nitrogen as began to flow, Smith smiled and nodded toward his family and signed “I love you.”
According to al.com, “Witnesses saw Smith struggle as the gas began flowing into the mask that covered his entire face. He began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing.
His official time of death was 8:25 p.m.
“On March 18, 1988, 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett’s life was brutally taken from her by Kenneth Eugene Smith. After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said.
““The execution was lawfully carried out by nitrogen hypoxia, the method previously requested by Mr. Smith as an alternative to lethal injection. At long last, Mr. Smith got what he asked for, and this case can finally be put to rest.
“I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.”
Comments
25 Responses to “Alabama Executes Inmate With New Nitrogen Gas Method At Atmore Prison”
@David Huie Green
Sure David. Killing people is dirt cheap. Heck, if you’ve got two hands and enough motivation, you can do it for free.
Avoiding killing innocent people is what makes capital punishment expensive. Roughly 10% of the people that have been executed in the US over the past 50 years were later exonerated. Are you really suggesting that we should make it easier for the government to kill innocent people in order to maintain a policy that, as far as I can tell, has a whole lot of “cons” and no “pros”?
Bob for Seriously?
REGARDING:
“execution is significantly more expensive than life in prison”
A human breathes less than 30 cubic feet of air per hour. If it takes 10 minutes to kill a human, that would be less than 5 cubic feet of nitrogen. Nitrogen costs about $30 per 125 cubic foot bottle refill. So it would take less than $30 worth of nitrogen for 25 executions. Definitely less than $2 per execution if you reuse the mask.
Getting to the point of execution may involve several million dollars.
This is done to avoid accidentally executing an innocent person while still trying to punish someone who committed cold-blooded murder and might do it again if given the opportunity.
AND:
“we don’t trust the government enough to not decide who is or is not worthy of living.”
Which is grammatically equal to: We do trust the government enough to decide who is or is not worthy of living.
That probably was not the intention though. Most likely it was meant to say, “We do not trust the government enough to decide.” Obviously we DO whether we should or not. We made the attempt to avoid it being capricious by having a legislature write the laws, a judiciary judge whether the laws have been broken and the punishment is proper, and the executive actually execute those laws or pardon the convicted killer. Each one is a check on the poor performance of the others.
This particular incident was interesting in that the judge had the power to override the jury. That power has now been taken away so now we not only have the three branches of government but we have an impartial jury of his peers deciding his fate, limiting the ability to execute a killer if even one member of the jury is unwilling to say that he deserves death.
.
@Trish
Assuming you are genuinely curious, the short version is A) there is no evidence that the death penalty mitigates crime rates, B) the rate at which innocent people are executed and later have their convictions overturned is way too high, C) execution is significantly more expensive than life in prison, and D) we don’t trust the government enough to not decide who is or is not worthy of living.
REGARDING :
“fentanyl won’t be any issue to personnel administering it or handling the body as long as basic proper precautions and PPE are used as they should be with any body or body fluids”
My point exactly.
Most things are safe if you are careful enough.
Nitrogen is safe unless you go out of your way to make it hazardous.
“Smith’s last words, according to media witnesses, included: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards….”
Just wondering what Mrs. Sennett’s last words were
@David Hume Green – actually when handled properly by trained personnel in a medical type environment, medical use fentanyl won’t be any issue to personnel administering it or handling the body as long as basic proper precautions and PPE are used as they should be with any body or body fluids. The main issue comes from the addicts on the street having the powdered fentanyl, and in order to cause an issue it has to be introduced into the blood stream or mucous membranes but it’s actually a myth that it is easily absorbed through the skin unless you are using a transdermal patch made specifically for that. If people want a quick painless death for those being executed, this is a surefire way to get it.
I don’t understand why people get so upset about the death penalty and say that it is inhumane and cruel. I’m sure they didn’t ask the person they murdered how they wanted to die!
REGARDING:
“since Fentanyl (SP?) is so popular and DEADLY–why not use that?”
(Fentanyl IS correct.)
Fentanyl is deadly to handle. The corpse would even create a risk for the medical examiner and the mortician. It WOULD work, though.
Nitrogen alone is not poisonous, just lacks the oxygen required for human life.
I got a better idea—since Fentanyl (SP?) is so popular and DEADLY–why not use that? From what I hear (I’m no expert) there is no pain involved you just drift off to sleep and die. I had a neighbor die from snorting it and something else and he was still on his knees when he was found at the small table where the “line” was. So that tells me he died very fast from it. Evidently its pretty cheap too going by the enormous amount that people are getting caught with.
@Robert – Do a little research. People have witnessed others unknowingly pass out and/or die from nitrogen hypoxia, and all the accounts are the same – they just passed out. There are PLENTY of firsthand accounts of people who have experienced it, and they are all the same – “I never knew what was happening until I woke up.”
He was probably “writhing and thrashing” because he tried to hold his breath. The body is designed to “alarm” when there is a high level of CO2 in the blood, not a low level of O2 or a high level of any inert gas, like nitrogen.
Nitrogen hypoxia may be the most humane – and definite – method of execution. It is fail safe and painless if carried out properly.
REGARDING:
“Why don’t they just use the same drugs that put you to sleep for sugary?”
I figured out you meant surgery.
Drug makers often dislike having their drugs used to kill even such as he was. Nitrogen is cheap and abundant. (I still recommend adding a 5 percent carbon dioxide gas to the mixture to keep him breathing as long as possible. Gets rid of oxygen still in lungs.)
REGARDING:
“Looks like he was conscious for the whole thing.”
Not possible.
Consciousness requires oxygen to the brain.
Death by anoxia requires no oxygen to the brain.
The dying part comes after the oxygen has been depleted.
David for non murderers
I am sure his victim suffered worse.
It’s about time someone starts using the death penalty for taking other lives. Convicted murders should be put to death after a reasonable amount of time and we could reduce our taxes by paying for their prison stay for life. Some say it’s not right to put them to death….WELL….it didn’t bother the murder when they killed someone else.
He got to live 35 more years than the victim and i’m quite sure her means of death were a lot worse than his.
Well 30 years later.
After a sentence of death, it should be carried out after a 1 year review. In cases where there is ZERO doubt that could be raised the review process should be within minutes. Nicholas Cruz being one of those
Next !!!
Why don’t they just use the same drugs that put you to sleep for sugary?
just more of it, I don’t ever remember any pain or discomfort.
Took 30 plus years to erase him and his smirk !!!
Justice for the Sennett family. He probably thought he’d die of old age before his execution. Surprise!
Keep it up and there will be no need to build another prison because of overcrowding.
Wow! 1988 death sentence come on man!All the while The yellow mama sits idle in some storage room gathering dust and cobwebs.There’s around 200 on death row just @Holman Prison.Concrete and wire is not the answer that just puts a bigger burden on God fearing,tax paying Americans.
So it took 9 minutes to suffocate him. Looks like he was conscious for the whole thing. I guess having a guard strangle deathrow prisoners would save some money.
This needs to be done within a year of the trial. He got to enjoy 30 more years of life than his victim did. What is FAIR about that?
Good!