State’s ‘slow and agonizing’ execution of Kenneth Smith using an untested method labeled as cruel by experts and advocates

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/14097254

Smith’s execution by “nitrogen hypoxia” took around 22 minutes, according to media witnesses, who were led into a viewing room at the William C Holman correctional facility in Atmore shortly before 8 pm local time.

After the nitrogen gas began flowing, Smith convulsed on the gurney for several minutes. The state had previously said the nitrogen gas would cause Smith to lose consciousness in seconds and die within minutes, according to the Associated Press.

“I’ve been to four previous executions and I’ve never seen a condemned inmate thrash in the way that Kenneth Smith reacted to the nitrogen gas,” Lee Hedgepeth, a journalist who witnessed the execution, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
    41·
    5 months ago

    Yeah, that all lines up with what I thought. I’m sure it’s horrible knowing you’re going to die as it’s actually happening. But a few minutes of consciousness followed by convulsions and death, that sounds like what I’d expect from suffocating on nitrogen and I see no reason to think from that that in itself means it’s painful.

    The 22 minutes seems like it came from his “religious advisor” and doesn’t line up with what other people said. Also, there’s this:

    Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said that 43 more death row inmates have elected to die by nitrogen hypoxia. People incarcerated on death row are able to chose their preferred method from electrocution, lethal injection or nitrogen hypoxia.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      4·
      5 months ago

      I’m certainly not out to demonize it or present a false narrative, but it can be easy to get a bunch of things jumbled together when you’re trying to put it all together. I appreciate you pushing for facts and getting me to re-read a bit closer.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
        3·
        5 months ago

        I mean, I get it. I don’t think we should be killing people either. I think that’s the inherent horror that’s making people look for reasons why this is wrong. But I think they’re unintentionally opposing a method that’s less painful, with the possible result of continuing the torture that we currently put people through when they’re condemned to die.