Alabama Department of Corrections via AP and AP
Alabama on Thursday executed a death row inmate using nitrogen gas, becoming the first state to do so in the United States despite concerns about the unproven method.
Kenneth Smith, 58, died at 8:25 p.m. after his final appeals to several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, failed.
This is the second time Alabama has attempted to execute Smith. In 2022, workers attempted but failed to install the intravenous drip needed to kill him with a lethal injection. After he was strapped to a stretcher for four hours, his execution was called off.
Concerns about nitrogen gas as a method of execution have swirled for months surrounding this case. The Alabama Attorney General's Office said nitrogen hypoxia is “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man.” Nonetheless, researchers have used this gas to kill animals, but in 2020 the American Veterinary Medical Association deemed it “unacceptable” as a method of euthanasia for all mammals except pigs because it can cause “distress” .
“Everyone is telling me I'm going to suffer,” Smith told NPR in December. “I’m really scared.”
After the first execution failed, Smith's lawyers asked the state of Alabama not to attempt another execution by lethal injection and requested a second method approved by the state: nitrogen gas. But before a date was set for Smith's second execution, his lawyers argued against gassing him, arguing that using an unproven method in a second attempt to execute him would violate his constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. . Both state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, rejected the appeal.
Pastor Jeff Hood
Nitrogen gas is such a new method of execution that it is unclear what risks it poses to workers in the death chamber. Last November, the Alabama Department of Corrections asked Smith's spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeff Hood, to sign a form acknowledging that he is at risk of harm if exposed to the gas, even if there is an oxygen gas monitor in his room. The hood must be kept 3 feet away from Smith because nitrogen could leak from his mask or pool over his head, the form states.
After suing the Department of Corrections for violating his religious freedom by interfering with Smith's ministry, Hood said the department agreed to allow staff to interact with Smith before he began administering nitrogen gas. Officials also promised to develop emergency plans to protect him and other employees of the chamber, he said. Officials also promised to develop emergency plans to protect him and other employees of the chamber, he said. NPR asked whether the agency had completed its backup plan, but Corrections did not respond.
Hood said he found two unplugged oxygen monitors while looking through the room the day before and that the warden dodged questions about safety protocols.
“What I saw did nothing to minimize my fears,” Hood told NPR. “The fear of incompetence only increased.”
NPR's Gabriel Kaplan
Alabama has continued to strive to carry out executions without error. In July 2022, the execution team took hours to set up an intravenous line for inmate Joe Nathan James. James was eventually executed, but his family sued the state over the execution, considered one of the longest executions in U.S. history. Just two months later, the state was forced to halt the execution of inmate Alan Miller for the same reason. In November, staff again struggled to find a vein to inject Smith.
“So I tied up my left arm and started working on my right arm. They were stabbing me over and over again, going into the same hole, like a sewing machine,” Smith told NPR. “I was completely alone in a room full of people and none of them wanted to help me. And I was crying out for help.”
The Alabama Department of Corrections has maintained secrecy about those executions and those scheduled for 2024. NPR requested information about purchases made in the state to prepare for nitrogen gas executions. Your request has been denied. The information “could be harmful to the public interest,” the agency said. NPR also asked whether there was a doctor in the death chamber, whether the executioners administering nitrogen gas had medical training, whether any of their staff were like those involved in Smith's first execution, and how many witnesses there were. He must have been present at the execution.
The Department of Corrections did not respond to any inquiries. Officials released a basic protocol outlining how the state plans to carry out executions using nitrogen gas. A lot of information has been corrected.
NPR's Gabriel Kaplan
Smith said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder after his first failed execution attempt.
“Nothing prepares you,” he said. “It’s a psychological trauma that I never realized until I went through it.”
After repeated failures, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in December 2022 placed a moratorium on executions in the state and ordered a “top-to-bottom review” of the state's execution procedures. Executions resumed three months later with the death of James Barber, following an internal review and rule changes allowing states to set their own execution periods.
From murder to execution, 35 years of waiting
Smith was one of three men convicted of the hired murder of Elizabeth Sennett, who was found with multiple stab wounds in her home in Colbert County, Alabama, in 1988.
“She was a likeable and loving person,” said her son, Chuck Sennett. She said, “I had a lot of friends and was easy to talk to. I had a lot of friends. I never met a stranger. I'm just a Southern wife and mother who runs the mill.”
Kiara Eisner/NPR
His father, Reverend Charles Sennett, was a Christian minister who was involved in hiring the man who killed his mother. When authorities began investigating his father's connection to his wife's killers, Sennett received a $1,000 reward from each and took his own life.
“He took the easy way out and committed suicide,” Chuck Sennett said. “So it’s like a slap in the face.”
Chuck and his brother Mike said their father also wanted a quick death sentence. They believe the decades they had to wait for Smith to be executed were too long.
Chuck Sennett said, “Alabama has the worst criminal justice system in the union.” “Thirty-five years later, we're still dealing with this problem. Why?”
Kiara Eisner/NPR
Smith's road to the death chamber was not a smooth one. After he went on trial in 1989, 10 of the 12 jurors voted that he should be sentenced to death. But that conviction was later vacated when it was discovered that prosecutors had unconstitutionally dismissed black jurors from the pool. Historically, blacks have been less supportive of the death penalty than white Americans.
When Smith was retried in 1996, all but one member of the jury voted against the death penalty and instead received a life sentence. But trial judge Pride Tompkins overruled the jury's opinion and sentenced him to death. An Alabama statute that allowed judges to override jury recommendations has since been replaced. If 11 of 12 jurors had voted in the second trial, Smith would have been sentenced to life in prison.
This is a developing story and will be updated.