Experimental Execution: Taking a Step Back in Alabama

PEACE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY 2024

By Rowan Sporte Ehn

On January 25, in a historic first, Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith–an inmate on death row–using nitrogen gas. In 1989 Smith and John Forrest Parker had been found guilty of capital murder for the killing of Elizabeth Sennett. Later, in 1996, Smith was retried and once again convicted and sentenced to death. In 2022, the state attempted to carry out an execution of Smith. It was botched, when the state failed to kill Smith within the time constraints. Before it was called off Smith endured escalating levels of pain and torture. No one answered his pleas to stop or his questions about what they were doing to him. Now, once again in 2024, the State of Alabama has subjected Smith to more torture and anguish. Though Smith’s attorneys had a brief legal battle with the state over the efficacy of using their client like a guinea pig with this untested method, ultimately the Supreme Court ruled in favor of moving forward. 

Initially, the State of Alabama had guessed that the gas would render Smith unconscious in several seconds and kill him in minutes. In the end, Smith’s execution lasted 22 minutes. Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual advisor who attended the execution, states that Smith did not go unconscious in 30 seconds, but instead struggled for minutes. In his final statement, Smith said, “tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards.[…] I’m leaving with love, peace and light.”

In 2020, American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in its euthanasia guidelines that the use of nitrogen hypoxia is not an acceptable method for most mammals because the anoxic environment “is distressing”. This means that the State of Alabama willingly used a method of execution that is not even seen as fit for animals. There is no reason that this atrocious act should be considered anything less than cruel and unusual punishment. The State of Alabama engaged in unethical, inhumane acts that no living being should be subjected to, and we need to mobilize to make sure what happened to Kenneth Smith will never happen again.

Rowan Sporte Ehn is a student at Northeastern University and a current Coop Student at Massachusetts Peace Action