The US state of Alabama will carry out the US’s first execution by nitrogen gas. It may happen after the Supreme Court does not want to overturn the decision of a federal court, CNN reports, among other things. Alabama has for several years worked to use nitrogen gas as a method of execution. It is the 58-year-old death row inmate Kenneth Smith who is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. The method is called nitrogen hypoxia and has never been used on death row inmates in the United States. Hypoxia is a medical condition where the body’s cells do not receive enough oxygen to maintain function. According to the plan, Smith will have a mask over his face and breathe in pure nitrogen. This happens without any kind of anesthesia. Without oxygen, the prisoner is scheduled to lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes from suffocation. The execution will be the nation’s first with a new method since 1982, writes the Associated Press. Convicted of murder Kenneth Smith was sentenced to death after carrying out a hit-and-run in 1988. John Forrest Smith was also sentenced to death for the murder. He was executed by lethal injection in 2010. Kenneth Smith was sentenced to death after carrying out a hit-and-run in 1988. On Thursday, he will be executed by nitrogen gas for the first time in American history. Photo: AFP Smith was also tried to be executed in 2022, but then officials failed to insert an IV before a lethal injection. The failed execution by lethal injection led the state to start a review of the death penalty procedures. The prisoner says he suffered severe trauma when he survived the first execution. Smith believes that a new execution violates the constitution’s provision that one must be protected against cruel and unusual methods of punishment. Controversial method The UN is concerned about the use of this method and has asked the federal state to stop the execution. – We are concerned that nitrogen hypoxia will result in a painful and inhumane death, says a report. Other critics say that such an unproven method of execution is human experimentation. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist and associate professor at Emory University, told the Reuters news agency that it could all end in a slow death for Smith. – It is uncertain how long it will take before death occurs. I think the state has all the time in the world. There have been executions in the US that have gone on for hours. It is reprehensible that the state tolerates such torture, says the doctor. The three states of Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi have approved nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution. Of these, only Alabama has made a plan for how it can be implemented. Death penalty in the USA In the USA, several states now also want to shoot death row inmates. The reason is a lack of lethal chemicals to have in the lethal injection. Pharmaceutical companies do not want to supply such substances, because they believe it damages the reputation of the companies. They do not want to take lives, but rather help save lives. It is mentioned, among other things, in the annual report on the use of the death penalty in the USA from the Death Penalty Information Center. 24 people were executed in the United States in 2023, and 21 were sentenced to death. Today, there are five states that actively take the lives of prisoners in executions. The five are Texas, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
ttn-69
To be executed with nitrogen gas – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
