Law Alabama used new method to execute prisoner. States forced to seek alternative methods.

[nhbbear]

Like many other states, Alabama was forced to seek alternative methods of executing a convicted murderer after the normal and accepted methods have been altered due to difficulties obtaining various chemicals. In some cases, this is due to the company refusing to allow their product to be used in such a manner, in others, it is because anti death penalty advocates have successfully argued that certain methods violate the constitution, specifically the eighth amendment preventing cruel and unusual punishment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...first-ever-nitrogen-gas-execution/ar-BB1hh9szIn this case, Kenneth smith was being executed for a 1988 murder for hire scheme in which he carried out the murder of a pastor’s wife so the husband could collect insurance money. This was the second attempt to carry out the sentence due to the first attempt failing to find a vein to inject lethal cocktails.

So, why was Alabama forced to find a new method?

“Many states have had difficulty obtaining the lethal chemicals used to carry out executions. Manufacturers of many of the drugs have prohibited the use of their products being used to carry out executions or stopped manufacturing them altogether, leading many states to go to great lengths to shield their source of the drugs.”

Some states still allow firing squads, electrocution, and hanging. When Texas first used lethal injection in 1982, many states adopted the procedure until several botched executions and pressure from Anti death penalty advocates put enough pressure on companies that manufactured the drugs to refuse to allow their product be used in executions.

Examples of botched attempts include the needle popping loose from the vein and the chemicals seeping into the skin resulting in 90 min executions.

Personally, I am in favor of the death penalty in certain cases, and believe it should be used more often and more quickly. In cases such as child murder, torture, mass shootings, murderers that have long, violent histories, or particularly gruesome and shocking murders. I think the methods should be cheap because the appeals process are often long and expensive.

And if these companies want to get woke on the issue and protesters want to complain about lethal injection, I say use the firing squad or hanging. Very inexpensive to actually carry out-less than a few dollars for a bullet or a rope, and they are quick, decisive, and more brutal than lethal injection-you want to complain about someone going to sleep-here, watch this guy get shot in the heart. Especially in cases where these fucks tortured someone and took pleasure in their deaths. The recent case of the New York serial killer that (not yet convicted) and not a state where it is even allowed, but he should be dragged outside after a single appeal and shot dead.

With that said, this guy, smith, was hired to carry out a murder and was paid to do it. I would have preferred life in prison for him and save the death penalty for the cases I listed above. I have worked on murder cases where life long felons have intentionally and premeditatedly shot and killed people, yet serve less than ten years.

So, are you for, or against executions. What methods should be used? And when should they be used?

 

[Hdfi]

I don't know why they don't just shoot these guys in the head. It's cheaper and faster.

 

[HockeyBjj]

It goes against the "natural" part of my brain that says monsters who kill others for their own pleasure should certainly be put down. But it's easier to just leave them locked in prison until they did of old age. They can't hurt anyone else, who isn't someone who's also a violent felon so... meh. And if they do do that in prison they get thrown in the hole.

And with the current system of so many appeals, life in prison is actually cheaper than executing them. And what's the point of executing someone 30 years after they were sentenced to death? It doesn't feel like finishing the justice anymore. It feels more like fulfilling an obligation of justice that had already failed by the sentence not being carried out in a timely fashion.

If there was a case of clearly guilty guy (caught red handed like a mass shooter who surrenders, not even something where there's damming evidence against a killer. We've seen too many get overturned) and the option was just to put a bullet in their head the day of the guilty verdict? Then I'd probably say go for it. But I'm against the American execution system as it stands now and rather than a hell of a fight to change it the other direction, just have life with no parole be the sentence.

 

[Otto!]

I support the death penalty, as some people are simply irredeemable. I understand that it’s a complex issues, but in cases of mass shootings, serial killers etc I think that it is justified. Of course there will always be concerns regarding wrongful convictions, but when there is zero doubt as to the culpability of the offender then I’m in favour.

Not sure what the right answer is as far as methods go, but I would also shorten the process so that people don’t spend decades on death row. Give a priority for appeals of convictions with the death penalty attached, and as soon as appeals have run out carry out the sentence.

In Canada, capital punishment was abolished in 1976, with the exception that members of the armed forces could still be executed for treason, desertion, cowardice, spying for the enemy. Capital punishment was completely removed from the National Defence Act in 1998.

Support for capital punishment had been fairly stagnant but has risen in recent years. A 2023 survey found that 54% of Canadians support a return of the death penalty for murderers. It will be interesting to see if that eventually becomes an election issue if the numbers keep rising.

Majority of Canadians are in favour of bringing back the death penalty, new poll suggests

A new survey found support for the death penalty has risen over the past year, with Conservative voters and people over 55 driving the shift.

www.thestar.com

 

[lowlife]

I don't know why they don't just shoot these guys in the head. It's cheaper and faster.

Death by firing squad seems fine to me. You don't even have to use a human to pull the trigger; perfect opportunity to start training AI for the eventual eradication of humanity.

 

[KnightTemplar]

I don't know why they don't just shoot these guys in the head. It's cheaper and faster.

Came here to say this. They're over-complicating things. Firing squads are cheaper, faster and more eifficient.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Death by firing squad seems fine to me. You don't even have to use a human to pull the trigger; perfect opportunity to start training AI for the eventual eradication of humanity.

Well I, for one, welcome our new Terminator overlords.

 

[Joshuaace]

A 2nd trip to the death chamber is cruel and unusual punishment in my book.

 

[650lb Sumo]

The OP's descriptions of Smith's execution and attempt at execution are mild.

Spoiler: Description of 2022 Failed Execution

Spoiler: Links

Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him | Death Penalty Information Center

Alabama death-row prisoner Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an execution gurney...

deathpenaltyinfo.org

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Guards ended Smith’s phone call with his wife at 7:57 p.m. and immediately placed him in handcuffs and leg irons, took him to the execution chamber, and strapped him to the gurney.

Two minutes later, the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay, which Smith’s lawyers provided to ADOC at 8:02 p.m. ADOC replied, “Noted,” but left Smith strapped to the gurney until midnight — a total of about four hours. During that time, ADOC never informed Smith of the stay or the status of any other legal proceedings and did not permit him to speak with his counsel. Smith, the complaint alleges, believed his execution was imminent.

At 10 p.m., ADOC’s IV team entered the execution chamber and began to attempt to set an IV line. Around the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit’s stay. It is unclear from the complaint whether the IV team began jabbing Smith’s arms and hands with needles before or after the stay was lifted. At one point in the process, Smith informed an execution team member that executioners were painfully inserting the needle in his muscle. According to the complaint, the team member responded, “No I’m not.”

The execution team then adjusted the gurney to place Smith into an inverted crucifixion position, then left the room for several minutes. Upon their return, they injected Smith with an unknown substance, which Smith’s counsel believe to be “some sort of sedative and/or anesthetic.” Smith “specifically objected to this injection,” the complaint says, as the State “had been ordered not to use ‘intramuscular sedation’ during his execution.”

Subsequently, an individual of “unknown medical credentials … started repeatedly stabbing [Smith’s] collarbone area with a large needle” in an attempt to begin placing a central line IV, and a prison official “grabbed and held [Smith’s] head away from the area where the needle was being inserted.” Smith describes sharp and intense pain, “as though he were being ‘stabbed’ in the chest” as the individual “repeatedly jabbed him … underneath his collarbone.” Unbeknownst to Smith, around 11:20 pm, “unverified reports that the execution may have been called off started circulating.”

Smith’s lawyers emailed state officials for confirmation that the execution had been called off, but did not receive a response. Sometime before midnight, the execution team told Smith “it’s over with.” When guards came to remove him from the execution chamber, Smith was trembling, sweating, hyperventilating, dizzy, and could not lift his own arms to be handcuffed or walk unassisted.

Smith recalled being in 'great pain' because those tasked with injecting the lethal drugs - midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride - were stabbing his muscle rather than finding a vein.

Smith has since said that the ceaseless jabs became so ridiculous they turned into farce, especially when one of the executioners eventually asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein stand out better - a request Smith declined.

He was left for several minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle in an attempt to attach a so-called central line (or central venous catheter) which is much longer than a regular intravenous line and goes all the way up to a vein near or inside the heart.

Smith reported that this pain became so excruciating after multiple attempts to use the larger needle successfully that he was shaking and wet himself.

/

He was diagnosed with PTSD after this.

Spoiler: Description of Execution

Spoiler: Links

How America's first nitrogen gas execution unfolded

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death in Alabama on Thursday night. The state employed a nitrogen gas method previously unused in executions.

www.dailymail.co.uk

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Alabama had predicted the nitrogen gas would cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.

However, those who watched the execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama have said it was anything but simple.

Witnesses said Smith appeared to shake and convulse at the start, pulled against his restraints, and breathed for up to ten minutes before finally falling unconscious.

All told, the execution took about 22 minutes from the time between the opening and closing of the curtains to the viewing room - much longer than expected.

In theory, the method involved replacing the air breathed by the inmate with 100% nitrogen. Those who support the method say the process should be painless, pointing to nitrogen's role in suicides or deadly industrial accidents.

However, witnesses said afterwards that it too much longer for Smith to fall unconscious than Alabama officials had said. He pulled against his restraints, and appeared to shake and convulse, as the gas filled his system.

At one point as the killer tore against his restraints, his wife Deanna, wearing a T-shirt reading 'Never Alone', desperately cried out for him from the witness box.

Marty Roney wrote in his report that Smith convulsed for four minutes. 'He appeared to be fully conscious when the gas began to flow,' he said.

Between 7.57pm and 8.01pm, 'Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney,' he wrote.

'He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head,' his account continued. 'Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook … He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times.'

Hood, who continued to bless him throughout the execution while Smith struggled, was stood 15 feet away and 'made the sign of the cross several times,' Roney said.

As the gurney shook several times during the first four minutes, 'Hood removed his eyeglasses and wiped away tears,' Roney added.

Hood said afterwards that the execution was the 'worst thing' he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock as Smith died slower than expected.

'When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,' Hood said.

He said prison officials in the room 'were visibly surprised at how bad this thing went'. He added: 'What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.'

Either saliva or a tear could be seen on the inside of the mask, he wrote, while a female witness for Smith - presumed to be his wife - was heard sobbing.

Hood said he prayed for the murderer and told him that he 'loved him and he wasn't alone', and broke down as he recounted the 'horror show' of Smith's final moments.

'I could see the corrections officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn't go smoothly - one of the state officials in the room was so nervous she was tap dancing,' he continued.

'(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama... that was torture.'

Hood said he has witnessed five executions before, and after seeing Smith's agony, he felt that 'lethal injection is preferable every single day.'

Asked about Smith's shaking and convulsing on the gurney, Alabama corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said they appeared to be involuntary movements.

[He] said: 'It appeared Smith was holding his breath as long as he could. So nothing was out of the ordinary for what we were expecting.'

Hamm said of Smith's movements on the gurney: 'That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia.'

 

[Renard]

Firing squad would be cleaner, more humane and cheaper. The only reason they don't use it is optics. Injecting a liquid or administrating a gas seems more "civilized" to people, it doesn't make housewives scream in horror at the sight of blood. Even though in reality it's more barbaric and can go horribly wrong now that the med shortage is making them use janky methods. People are dumb and all about appearances, even for shit like this.

 

[oldshadow]

Old sparky or hanging.

Maybe firing squad, as suggested it could be automated.

 

[ShadBo]

The OP's descriptions of Smith's execution and attempt at execution are mild.

Spoiler: Description of 2022 Failed Execution

Spoiler: Links

Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him | Death Penalty Information Center

Alabama death-row prisoner Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an execution gurney...

deathpenaltyinfo.org

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Guards ended Smith’s phone call with his wife at 7:57 p.m. and immediately placed him in handcuffs and leg irons, took him to the execution chamber, and strapped him to the gurney.

Two minutes later, the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay, which Smith’s lawyers provided to ADOC at 8:02 p.m. ADOC replied, “Noted,” but left Smith strapped to the gurney until midnight — a total of about four hours. During that time, ADOC never informed Smith of the stay or the status of any other legal proceedings and did not permit him to speak with his counsel. Smith, the complaint alleges, believed his execution was imminent.

At 10 p.m., ADOC’s IV team entered the execution chamber and began to attempt to set an IV line. Around the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit’s stay. It is unclear from the complaint whether the IV team began jabbing Smith’s arms and hands with needles before or after the stay was lifted. At one point in the process, Smith informed an execution team member that executioners were painfully inserting the needle in his muscle. According to the complaint, the team member responded, “No I’m not.”

The execution team then adjusted the gurney to place Smith into an inverted crucifixion position, then left the room for several minutes. Upon their return, they injected Smith with an unknown substance, which Smith’s counsel believe to be “some sort of sedative and/or anesthetic.” Smith “specifically objected to this injection,” the complaint says, as the State “had been ordered not to use ‘intramuscular sedation’ during his execution.”

Subsequently, an individual of “unknown medical credentials … started repeatedly stabbing [Smith’s] collarbone area with a large needle” in an attempt to begin placing a central line IV, and a prison official “grabbed and held [Smith’s] head away from the area where the needle was being inserted.” Smith describes sharp and intense pain, “as though he were being ‘stabbed’ in the chest” as the individual “repeatedly jabbed him … underneath his collarbone.” Unbeknownst to Smith, around 11:20 pm, “unverified reports that the execution may have been called off started circulating.”

Smith’s lawyers emailed state officials for confirmation that the execution had been called off, but did not receive a response. Sometime before midnight, the execution team told Smith “it’s over with.” When guards came to remove him from the execution chamber, Smith was trembling, sweating, hyperventilating, dizzy, and could not lift his own arms to be handcuffed or walk unassisted.

Smith recalled being in 'great pain' because those tasked with injecting the lethal drugs - midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride - were stabbing his muscle rather than finding a vein.

Smith has since said that the ceaseless jabs became so ridiculous they turned into farce, especially when one of the executioners eventually asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein stand out better - a request Smith declined.

He was left for several minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle in an attempt to attach a so-called central line (or central venous catheter) which is much longer than a regular intravenous line and goes all the way up to a vein near or inside the heart.

Smith reported that this pain became so excruciating after multiple attempts to use the larger needle successfully that he was shaking and wet himself.

/

He was diagnosed with PTSD after this.

Spoiler: Description of Execution

Spoiler: Links

How America's first nitrogen gas execution unfolded

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death in Alabama on Thursday night. The state employed a nitrogen gas method previously unused in executions.

www.dailymail.co.uk

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Alabama had predicted the nitrogen gas would cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.

However, those who watched the execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama have said it was anything but simple.

Witnesses said Smith appeared to shake and convulse at the start, pulled against his restraints, and breathed for up to ten minutes before finally falling unconscious.

All told, the execution took about 22 minutes from the time between the opening and closing of the curtains to the viewing room - much longer than expected.

In theory, the method involved replacing the air breathed by the inmate with 100% nitrogen. Those who support the method say the process should be painless, pointing to nitrogen's role in suicides or deadly industrial accidents.

However, witnesses said afterwards that it too much longer for Smith to fall unconscious than Alabama officials had said. He pulled against his restraints, and appeared to shake and convulse, as the gas filled his system.

At one point as the killer tore against his restraints, his wife Deanna, wearing a T-shirt reading 'Never Alone', desperately cried out for him from the witness box.

Marty Roney wrote in his report that Smith convulsed for four minutes. 'He appeared to be fully conscious when the gas began to flow,' he said.

Between 7.57pm and 8.01pm, 'Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney,' he wrote.

'He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head,' his account continued. 'Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook … He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times.'

Hood, who continued to bless him throughout the execution while Smith struggled, was stood 15 feet away and 'made the sign of the cross several times,' Roney said.

As the gurney shook several times during the first four minutes, 'Hood removed his eyeglasses and wiped away tears,' Roney added.

Hood said afterwards that the execution was the 'worst thing' he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock as Smith died slower than expected.

'When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,' Hood said.

He said prison officials in the room 'were visibly surprised at how bad this thing went'. He added: 'What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.'

Either saliva or a tear could be seen on the inside of the mask, he wrote, while a female witness for Smith - presumed to be his wife - was heard sobbing.

Hood said he prayed for the murderer and told him that he 'loved him and he wasn't alone', and broke down as he recounted the 'horror show' of Smith's final moments.

'I could see the corrections officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn't go smoothly - one of the state officials in the room was so nervous she was tap dancing,' he continued.

'(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama... that was torture.'

Hood said he has witnessed five executions before, and after seeing Smith's agony, he felt that 'lethal injection is preferable every single day.'

Asked about Smith's shaking and convulsing on the gurney, Alabama corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said they appeared to be involuntary movements.

[He] said: 'It appeared Smith was holding his breath as long as he could. So nothing was out of the ordinary for what we were expecting.'

Hamm said of Smith's movements on the gurney: 'That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia.'

I can't believe there are bootlickers in this thread who would give the state the right to do this to another human, even if that human committed terrible crimes.

For the Percy Wetmore types in here getting off imagining executions firing squads and hangings, grow up.

 

[oldshadow]

I can't believe there are bootlickers in this thread who would give the state the right to do this to another human, even if that human committed terrible crimes.

For the Percy Wetmore types in here getting off imagining executions firing squads and hangings, grow up.

The state is carring out the decision of a jury. In some cases justice for the victims and their families is only served by this action.

Electrocution, hanging and the firing squad are not slow and are not designed to be torture.

 

[Spounman]

The OP's descriptions of Smith's execution and attempt at execution are mild.

Spoiler: Description of 2022 Failed Execution

Spoiler: Links

Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him | Death Penalty Information Center

Alabama death-row prisoner Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an execution gurney...

deathpenaltyinfo.org

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Guards ended Smith’s phone call with his wife at 7:57 p.m. and immediately placed him in handcuffs and leg irons, took him to the execution chamber, and strapped him to the gurney.

Two minutes later, the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay, which Smith’s lawyers provided to ADOC at 8:02 p.m. ADOC replied, “Noted,” but left Smith strapped to the gurney until midnight — a total of about four hours. During that time, ADOC never informed Smith of the stay or the status of any other legal proceedings and did not permit him to speak with his counsel. Smith, the complaint alleges, believed his execution was imminent.

At 10 p.m., ADOC’s IV team entered the execution chamber and began to attempt to set an IV line. Around the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit’s stay. It is unclear from the complaint whether the IV team began jabbing Smith’s arms and hands with needles before or after the stay was lifted. At one point in the process, Smith informed an execution team member that executioners were painfully inserting the needle in his muscle. According to the complaint, the team member responded, “No I’m not.”

The execution team then adjusted the gurney to place Smith into an inverted crucifixion position, then left the room for several minutes. Upon their return, they injected Smith with an unknown substance, which Smith’s counsel believe to be “some sort of sedative and/or anesthetic.” Smith “specifically objected to this injection,” the complaint says, as the State “had been ordered not to use ‘intramuscular sedation’ during his execution.”

Subsequently, an individual of “unknown medical credentials … started repeatedly stabbing [Smith’s] collarbone area with a large needle” in an attempt to begin placing a central line IV, and a prison official “grabbed and held [Smith’s] head away from the area where the needle was being inserted.” Smith describes sharp and intense pain, “as though he were being ‘stabbed’ in the chest” as the individual “repeatedly jabbed him … underneath his collarbone.” Unbeknownst to Smith, around 11:20 pm, “unverified reports that the execution may have been called off started circulating.”

Smith’s lawyers emailed state officials for confirmation that the execution had been called off, but did not receive a response. Sometime before midnight, the execution team told Smith “it’s over with.” When guards came to remove him from the execution chamber, Smith was trembling, sweating, hyperventilating, dizzy, and could not lift his own arms to be handcuffed or walk unassisted.

Smith recalled being in 'great pain' because those tasked with injecting the lethal drugs - midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride - were stabbing his muscle rather than finding a vein.

Smith has since said that the ceaseless jabs became so ridiculous they turned into farce, especially when one of the executioners eventually asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein stand out better - a request Smith declined.

He was left for several minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle in an attempt to attach a so-called central line (or central venous catheter) which is much longer than a regular intravenous line and goes all the way up to a vein near or inside the heart.

Smith reported that this pain became so excruciating after multiple attempts to use the larger needle successfully that he was shaking and wet himself.

/

He was diagnosed with PTSD after this.

Spoiler: Description of Execution

Spoiler: Links

How America's first nitrogen gas execution unfolded

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death in Alabama on Thursday night. The state employed a nitrogen gas method previously unused in executions.

www.dailymail.co.uk

What went wrong? Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith take 22 minutes to die

Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Alabama had predicted the nitrogen gas would cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.

However, those who watched the execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama have said it was anything but simple.

Witnesses said Smith appeared to shake and convulse at the start, pulled against his restraints, and breathed for up to ten minutes before finally falling unconscious.

All told, the execution took about 22 minutes from the time between the opening and closing of the curtains to the viewing room - much longer than expected.

In theory, the method involved replacing the air breathed by the inmate with 100% nitrogen. Those who support the method say the process should be painless, pointing to nitrogen's role in suicides or deadly industrial accidents.

However, witnesses said afterwards that it too much longer for Smith to fall unconscious than Alabama officials had said. He pulled against his restraints, and appeared to shake and convulse, as the gas filled his system.

At one point as the killer tore against his restraints, his wife Deanna, wearing a T-shirt reading 'Never Alone', desperately cried out for him from the witness box.

Marty Roney wrote in his report that Smith convulsed for four minutes. 'He appeared to be fully conscious when the gas began to flow,' he said.

Between 7.57pm and 8.01pm, 'Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney,' he wrote.

'He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head,' his account continued. 'Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook … He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times.'

Hood, who continued to bless him throughout the execution while Smith struggled, was stood 15 feet away and 'made the sign of the cross several times,' Roney said.

As the gurney shook several times during the first four minutes, 'Hood removed his eyeglasses and wiped away tears,' Roney added.

Hood said afterwards that the execution was the 'worst thing' he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock as Smith died slower than expected.

'When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,' Hood said.

He said prison officials in the room 'were visibly surprised at how bad this thing went'. He added: 'What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.'

Either saliva or a tear could be seen on the inside of the mask, he wrote, while a female witness for Smith - presumed to be his wife - was heard sobbing.

Hood said he prayed for the murderer and told him that he 'loved him and he wasn't alone', and broke down as he recounted the 'horror show' of Smith's final moments.

'I could see the corrections officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn't go smoothly - one of the state officials in the room was so nervous she was tap dancing,' he continued.

'(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama... that was torture.'

Hood said he has witnessed five executions before, and after seeing Smith's agony, he felt that 'lethal injection is preferable every single day.'

Asked about Smith's shaking and convulsing on the gurney, Alabama corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said they appeared to be involuntary movements.

[He] said: 'It appeared Smith was holding his breath as long as he could. So nothing was out of the ordinary for what we were expecting.'

Hamm said of Smith's movements on the gurney: 'That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia.'

Libs ignore that he was hired to kill a woman. They act like Alabama put an innocent elementary school teacher to death

 

[Ladder Master]

Humans that act like wild animals and can't control themselves deserve to be put down.

 

[jk7707]

Like many other states, Alabama was forced to seek alternative methods of executing a convicted murderer after the normal and accepted methods have been altered due to difficulties obtaining various chemicals. In some cases, this is due to the company refusing to allow their product to be used in such a manner, in others, it is because anti death penalty advocates have successfully argued that certain methods violate the constitution, specifically the eighth amendment preventing cruel and unusual punishment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...first-ever-nitrogen-gas-execution/ar-BB1hh9szIn this case, Kenneth smith was being executed for a 1988 murder for hire scheme in which he carried out the murder of a pastor’s wife so the husband could collect insurance money. This was the second attempt to carry out the sentence due to the first attempt failing to find a vein to inject lethal cocktails.

So, why was Alabama forced to find a new method?

“Many states have had difficulty obtaining the lethal chemicals used to carry out executions. Manufacturers of many of the drugs have prohibited the use of their products being used to carry out executions or stopped manufacturing them altogether, leading many states to go to great lengths to shield their source of the drugs.”

Some states still allow firing squads, electrocution, and hanging. When Texas first used lethal injection in 1982, many states adopted the procedure until several botched executions and pressure from Anti death penalty advocates put enough pressure on companies that manufactured the drugs to refuse to allow their product be used in executions.

Examples of botched attempts include the needle popping loose from the vein and the chemicals seeping into the skin resulting in 90 min executions.

Personally, I am in favor of the death penalty in certain cases, and believe it should be used more often and more quickly. In cases such as child murder, torture, mass shootings, murderers that have long, violent histories, or particularly gruesome and shocking murders. I think the methods should be cheap because the appeals process are often long and expensive.

And if these companies want to get woke on the issue and protesters want to complain about lethal injection, I say use the firing squad or hanging. Very inexpensive to actually carry out-less than a few dollars for a bullet or a rope, and they are quick, decisive, and more brutal than lethal injection-you want to complain about someone going to sleep-here, watch this guy get shot in the heart. Especially in cases where these fucks tortured someone and took pleasure in their deaths. The recent case of the New York serial killer that (not yet convicted) and not a state where it is even allowed, but he should be dragged outside after a single appeal and shot dead.

With that said, this guy, smith, was hired to carry out a murder and was paid to do it. I would have preferred life in prison for him and save the death penalty for the cases I listed above. I have worked on murder cases where life long felons have intentionally and premeditatedly shot and killed people, yet serve less than ten years.

So, are you for, or against executions. What methods should be used? And when should they be used?

Why do you consider it "woke" for a company to dictate whether or not something they produce is used in lethal injection or not? Seems like a sound business decision if you didn't intend for that chemical to be used in executions in the first place.

On the subject of executions in general I'm against the death penalty.

Are there some people that deserve it? Absolutely, but allowing the state to execute people means that there is a 100% certainty that people innocent of the crimes they've been convicted of will be executed in that system.


And there is nothing worse that a government can do to someone than that. So if the trade off is that some murderers have to spend the remainder of their days in a maximum security prison, so be it.

 

[Rod1]

Libs ignore that he was hired to kill a woman. They act like Alabama put an innocent elementary school teacher to death

Then why puss out, if you are going to kill a human do it quickly, a bullet on his head or the gallows, no need to torture a human being to death.

 

[Rod1]

I oppose the death penalty simply because the State shouldn't be given the green go to execute citizens under custody.

But if it has to exist, use the fucking gallows or a garrote, why torture prisoner with Looney Tunes level contraptions?

That being said Nitrogen asphyxiation is indeed the most painless method i would think of, plenty of people die every year in grain silos because of it.

 

[Osculater]

Can they just use these people as cheap labor or something instead of killing them

 

[Spounman]

Then why puss out, if you are going to kill a human do it quickly, a bullet on his head or the gallows, no need to torture a human being to death.

Yeah, I agree with that