Current Events > Death row inmate to be put to death by nitrogen gas.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/08/us/alabama-first-execution-nitrogen-gas-2024/index.html

Alabama sets a date to execute a death row inmate by nitrogen gas, governor says, a method never used in the US

Alabama has scheduled the nations first execution by nitrogen hypoxia, an alternative to lethal injection, its Republican governor said.

Kenneth Eugene Smiths execution by lethal injection was abruptly canceled in November after the state couldnt properly set the IV line before the warrant for execution expired. He asked the state to be put to death by nitrogen gas rather than lethal injection after what he called a botched execution.

Smiths execution now is set to take place between January 25 and 26, according to a news release from Gov. Kay Ivey.

Death by nitrogen hypoxia deprives the brain and body of oxygen, so the inmate would die by suffocation, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit that monitors, analyzes and disseminates information about capital punishment.

The new development in Smiths case comes after Alabama paused executions last fall and reviewed its execution process after problems with lethal injections came into the national spotlight.

Alabama finalized the first-ever execution protocols for the new method in August after its legislature in 2018 approved the alternative method to lethal injection, the Death Penalty Information Center said. The state has 165 inmates on death row, according to the state department of corrections.

Still, Smiths attorneys nodded to other unresolved issues related to the case and said they are disappointed the governor has apparently set an execution date for their client, according to their statement Wednesday to CNN.

We will continue to pursue the enforcement of Mr. Smiths rights through the judicial process, the statement reads. Like the eleven jurors who did not believe Mr. Smith should be executed, we remain hopeful that those who review this case will see that a second attempt to execute Mr. Smith this time with an experimental, never-before-used method and with a protocol that has never been fully disclosed to him or his counsel is unwarranted and unjust.

The US Supreme Court in May sided with Smiths request to be killed by nitrogen gas. The courts action came after the justices divided 6-3 earlier in the term to allow Smiths execution to go forward by lethal injection.

Smith was convicted for the 1988 murder, with an accomplice, of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in a murder-for-hire plot. The two were hired by Sennetts husband, who was involved in an affair and had taken out a large insurance policy on his wife, CNN previously reported.

Smiths case was tried by a jury twice, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has noted, both of which resulted in convictions. In his 1996 retrial, Smiths jury voted 11-1 for a recommendation of a life sentence, but a judge overruled that and imposed the death penalty.

Tldr is it supposed to be less painful than injection

Cocytus posted...

In his 1996 retrial, Smiths jury voted 11-1 for a recommendation of a life sentence, but a judge overruled that and imposed the death penalty.

Murica

wah wah wah wah wah wah

Smackems posted...

Tldr is it supposed to be less painful than injection

From what I've read it's supposed to be one of the most humane ways. No struggling for air you just feel like your breathing normal and pass out as nitrogen replaces the oxygen.

dummy420 posted...

From what I've read it's supposed to be one of the most humane ways. No struggling for air you just feel like your breathing normal and pass out as nitrogen replaces the oxygen.

They say this about all of them though

Doe posted...

Murica

For real. Why the fuck was this judge so eager to kill this man as opposed to life in prison?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


This. It is Dark Ages barbarism.

The death penalty is barbaric no matter the method.

People will go on and on about gas chambers but lethal injection can no longer be done in a constitutional manner.

mario2000 posted...

This. It is Dark Ages barbarism.

Eehhhhh idk if I'd say all that lol

I'm not as pro death penalty as I used to be. This board has changed my mind on absolutely supporting it

Smackems posted...

They say this about all of them though

True. But I've experience hypoxia myself a few times. Not nitrogen hypoxia but I have to experience and know my symptoms as an aircrew member. The reason hypoxia is so deadly for aircrew is you probably don't even realize your not getting enough oxygen until you pass out and likely die. What I experienced was painless.

dummy420 posted...

True. But I've experience hypoxia myself a few times. Not nitrogen hypoxia but I have to experience and know my symptoms as an aircrew member. The reason hypoxia is so deadly for aircrew is you probably don't even realize your not getting enough oxygen until you pass out and likely die. What I experienced was painless.

So you feel like you're getting enough "air?"

dummy420 posted...

True. But I've experience hypoxia myself a few times. Not nitrogen hypoxia but I have to experience and know my symptoms as an aircrew member. The reason hypoxia is so deadly for aircrew is you probably don't even realize your not getting enough oxygen until you pass out and likely die. What I experienced was painless.

There's a reason why exit hoods are a popular suicide method.

Abolish the death penalty

Even when 11 out of 12 jurors think you shouldn't be executed, a judge can just say no.

Fuck that shit. Fuck the death penalty.

Smackems posted...

So you feel like you're getting enough "air?"

Yeah. My symptoms are I feel warm and develop some tunnel vision. So if I experience that I tell the pilots oh shit we aren't pressurized or there's something in the Air reducing my oxygen. If I don't know that's what's happening I probably pass out along with everyone else on the plane.

Besides that I'm totally unaware my body isn't getting the oxygen I need.

Smackems posted...

So you feel like you're getting enough "air?"

You get too stupid to realize you're going to die. I watched a video on it years ago but I can't find it again and a person in it was told they are going to die if they don't put their mask back on, and they didn't even attempt to put it on, so someone else had to do it.

I don't think this is the exact one I watched before, but it shows the same effects I mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_MI9UiYwJA

This is a far more humane method than lethal injection, but I still want the death penalty to be abolished.

GeminiDeus posted...

You get too stupid to realize you're going to die. I watched a video on it years ago but I can't find it again and a person in it was told they are going to die if they don't put their mask back on, and they didn't even attempt to put it on, so someone else had to do it.

Well I'm already starting out stupid so I better be careful

GeminiDeus posted...

You get too stupid to realize you're going to die. I watched a video on it years ago but I can't find it again and a person in it was told they are going to die if they don't put their mask back on, and they didn't even attempt to put it on, so someone else had to do it.

Yep. We call it usefull consciousness.

No death penalty.

No exceptions.

For those that don't know, Hypoxia is dangerous, but you very seldom know for yourself that you're getting hypoxic.

You basically get hazy and loopy as your brain ceases to get oxygen to the rest of your body.

I'm sure reading "suffocation" would imply that lethal injection is better but this might as well be letting someone get high and unaware while they go.

It's definitely more humane, as far as corporal punishment goes.

GeminiDeus posted...

You get too stupid to realize you're going to die. I watched a video on it years ago but I can't find it again and a person in it was told they are going to die if they don't put their mask back on, and they didn't even attempt to put it on, so someone else had to do it.

"Put on your mask before helping someone else with theirs" or however the preflight presentation goes

GeminiDeus posted...

You get too stupid to realize you're going to die. I watched a video on it years ago but I can't find it again and a person in it was told they are going to die if they don't put their mask back on, and they didn't even attempt to put it on, so someone else had to do it.

Is this the one you mean?

https://documentaryheaven.com/how-to-kill-a-human-being/

For what it's worth, I highly recommend it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

What would the alternative be? There needs to be prison reform in America and I believe in rehabilitation but if you commit especially heinous, destructive crimes, you could theoretically be fully rehabilitated and given top mental health treatment yet it would be impossible to reintegrate into society over the reputation had over said crimes.

Humane, efficient and cheap. I support this.

CRON posted...

What would the alternative be? There needs to be prison reform in America

Sounds like you answered your own question.

ai123 posted...

Is this the one you mean?

https://documentaryheaven.com/how-to-kill-a-human-being/

For what it's worth, I highly recommend it.

No, it was something I saw on youtube and I believe it was a woman in the video, but my brain might just be mixing that with the hypoxia scene in Incredibles 2. I'll watch the video you listed if I have the time for it.

Murderers should get their just desserts

Dude been imprisoned for 30 years to end up being executed anyway.

This is a very peaceful way to go, if the death penalty is going to stay then lethal injection needs to be abolished completely and replaced with this.

There's also no supply chain concerns or the possibility of random drug cocktails that are untested. Nitrogen is nitrogen.

As long as the death penalty is legal and countries are unwilling to supply the necessary drugs for barely workable lethal injection protocol, there must be alternatives.

CRON posted...

What would the alternative be? There needs to be prison reform in America and I believe in rehabilitation but if you commit especially heinous, destructive crimes, you could theoretically be fully rehabilitated and given top mental health treatment yet it would be impossible to reintegrate into society over the reputation had over said crimes.

This is a fucking hard topic to discuss for exactly that reason. There is no clean cut solution.

One such person in my support group has been a career criminal for decades. He's spent 28 years total in prison. Yet his most recent stint coupled with his partner has triggered a reformation in him. Many people just looking at his history would have said "execute him, he's irredeemable" yet my interactions with him have shown he's an extremely insightful person with a lot to offer. He's even started his own post-release rehabilitation program for prisoners which even has government support.

An opportunity to contribute to society that a lot of people - including on this board - would have denied him in an instant.
You'd be amazed at how far someone can sink and yet still claw their way back to redemption.

To give it a more extreme example: If you're on death row for 30 years and rehabilitate in that time, it makes it that much more difficult. You might be a different person than the you that murdered a family, but you still did it. A more just system would only let you graduate to life imprisonment.

Starks posted...

To give it a more extreme example: If you're on death row for 30 years and rehabilitate in that time, it makes it that much more difficult. You might be a different person than the you that murdered a family, but you still did it. A more just system would only let you graduate to life imprisonment.

If you truly repented then you shouldn't even need to be in prison anymore. That's what people always get wrong. It's not meant to be about punishment - it's about protecting society. A truly redeemed person is no longer a threat to society, and it's not like the system lets you out of prison without continuing to keep a close eye on you.

state executioners, as well as judges, prosecutors, and jurors who hand down capital sentences, are also murderers and should all be punished/imprisoned.

I don't understand why they let them rot for so long before they kill them

Smackems posted...

I don't understand why they let them rot for so long before they kill them

Death row has been criticized as cruel and unusual punishment indeed. It's a form of psychological torture.

Japan doesn't even let you know when you're getting executed. One day you just wake up and you're asked to take a walk.

Starks posted...

Japan doesn't even let you know when you're getting executed. One day you just wake up and you're asked to take a walk.

Hmm. I didn't know that.

Starks posted...

Japan doesn't even let you know when you're getting executed. One day you just wake up and you're asked to take a walk.

Isn't that basically the same as death row? How much notice do death row prisoners get?

Starks posted...

Japan doesn't even let you know when you're getting executed. One day you just wake up and you're asked to take a walk.

That don't seem great either

Idk which I'd rather have or which seems more humane

Neither really

*shrug*

Dark_Arbron posted...

Isn't that basically the same as death row? How much notice do death row prisoners get?

Enough notice that the governor has time to step in and grant clemency at the last second. Or for court orders.

Starks posted...

Enough notice that the governor has time to step in and grant clemency at the last second. Or for court orders.

Yeah, fair. Suppose that's better than waking up to it.

In his 1996 retrial, Smiths jury voted 11-1 for a recommendation of a life sentence, but a judge overruled that and imposed the death penalty.

WTF.
Why even bother having a jury then?

Judges have way too much power in this country. Theyre treated like gods.

I think in the US, you get a few months at least, warning before the death date
But yea, death penalty needs to be a thing of the past. Its a product of a less civilized society.

Cocytus posted...

Smiths case was tried by a jury twice, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has noted, both of which resulted in convictions. In his 1996 retrial, Smiths jury voted 11-1 for a recommendation of a life sentence, but a judge overruled that and imposed the death penalty.

That's just ridiculous. Well, at least he is guilty of something! He could be like one of those other people who were found to be innocent but the courts decided to kill them anyway. There was a case just last year, wasn't there?