In a historic event in the United States, a criminal was executed through the use of nitrogen gas, marking a departure from traditional methods like hanging. This execution method has sparked significant criticism.
The World News Agency reported that the execution involved Kenneth Smith, a 58-year-old convict in Alabama who had been sentenced to death for his involvement in a 1989 case where a preacher orchestrated the brutal killing of his wife for insurance money, employing two hired killers.
Kenneth Smith became the first individual in American history to be executed by nitrogen gas. The procedure involved fitting the convict with a mask filled with nitrogen gas, and the Attorney General informed the media that Smith passed away within 40 minutes of donning the mask.
It’s noteworthy that two years prior, an attempt to execute Kenneth Smith through lethal injection had been delayed due to difficulties in administering the intravenous injection within the designated timeframe.
While the method of execution has raised concerns, so too has the heinous crime for which Smith was convicted. The preacher orchestrated his wife’s murder to settle debts with the insurance payout. When authorities were closing in on the preacher, Charles Sennett, he took his own life to avoid the truth emerging.
In 2010, one of the two hired killers involved in the crime was also executed.
Despite objections from human rights organizations, including the United Nations, labeling the death penalty by nitrogen gas as inhumane, it has been sanctioned in the U.S. states of Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Alabama. The U.S. court rejected the mercy appeal just half an hour before the execution, affirming the decision to proceed with the death sentence using nitrogen gas. Previously, the Supreme Court had also dismissed the convict’s lawyer’s plea for mercy through the Federal Court against the death sentence by nitrogen gas.