Alabama on Thursday night became the first U.S. state to execute a person using nitrogen gas , killing 58-year-old Kenneth Smith by depriving his body of oxygen after the nation's Supreme Court rejected his legal team's last-ditch appeal. The state's notoriously incompetent executioners, who tried and failed to kill Smith via lethal injection in 2022, strapped the condemned man to a gurney and administered the nitrogen gas through a full-face mask.
Smith was pronounced dead shortly before 8:30 pm after around four minutes of convulsions. 'Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backwards,' Smith said in his final statement. 'I'm leaving with love, peace, and light. Thank you for supporting me, love all of you.' Smith was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Sennett in 1988, a crime committed when he was 22 years old. That conviction was overturned, but he was convicted again seven years later, with the jury recommending a life sentence. An Alabama judge,
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)
Alabama Execution Nitrogen Gas Kenneth Smith Supreme Court Murder-For-Hire