Alabama is set to execute death row of an inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas. He is the first person in the United States, who is to be put to death using this type of untested method.
This week, the Supreme Court also refused to stop Alabama from executing Smith using this very method which is highly controversial and which is known as nitrogen hypoxia. Out of the three states of Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama, Alabama is the third state to have authorised the use of nitrogen hypoxia. In the death penalty of nitrogen hypoxia, the inmate, who is pronounced with the death penalty is therefore fitted with a mask and is made to inhale nitrogen gas in the process.
Smith is accused of killing Elizabeth Dorelene Sennett in Colbert County in 1988. He was a hired killer by Charles Sennett, husband of Elizabeth Sennett.
According to the court records, he said in his statement that he was paid $1,000 by the victim’s husband. Elizabeth Sennett was stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck, according to the county coroner. Her husband had committed suicide before facing the charges.
