"Deeply Troubling, Cruel": Huge Outcry Over 1st Nitrogen Gas Execution In US

Yasmin Cader of the American Civil Liberties Union said Smith "should have never been killed, let alone in such a gruesome manner.

Alabama: The White House said Friday it was "deeply troubled" by the first-ever execution in the United States using nitrogen gas, an untested method which also drew condemnation from the United Nations and European Union.

The southern state of Alabama put Kenneth Smith, a 58-year-old convicted murderer, to death on Thursday by pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing him to suffocate.

"The use of nitrogen gas -- it is troubling to us," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. "We are deeply troubled by it."

Recent executions in the United States have been carried out by lethal injection but Alabama and two other states -- Oklahoma and Mississippi -- have authorized the use of nitrogen gas.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday defended the decision to put Smith to death through nitrogen asphyxiation saying the execution had been carried out in a "professional manner."

"We will definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions in Alabama, I believe that number is 43," Marshall told reporters. None are currently scheduled for this year.

After the nitrogen gas was administered, Smith "began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing," local news outlet AL.com reported.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said Smith appeared to be "holding his breath as long as he could" and there was "involuntary movement" and gasping.

'Cruel, inhuman'

UN human rights chief Volker Turk, the EU and US civil liberties groups expressed concern about the manner of Smith's execution, which has reignited debate about the use of capital punishment.

"This novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," Turk said.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office in Geneva, said Smith was "clearly suffering."

Rather than using such untried methods to conduct executions, "let's just bring an end to the death penalty," Shamdasani said. "This is an anachronism that doesn't belong in the 21st century."

A spokesperson for the 27-member EU, which opposes the death penalty, denounced the method of execution as "a particularly cruel and unusual punishment."

Yasmin Cader of the American Civil Liberties Union said Smith "should have never been killed, let alone in such a gruesome manner.

"It's past time for our country to put an end to the death penalty instead of inventing new and more heinous ways of carrying it out," Cader said.

Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman, noted that President Joe Biden suspended federal executions after taking office.

"The president has long said, and has had deep, deep, deep, concerns with how the death penalty is implemented and whether it is consistent with our values," she said.

'Step backward'

Smith was sentenced to death for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett, a pastor's wife.

He and an accomplice, John Parker, were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett. Parker was executed by lethal injection in 2010.

Smith was subjected to a botched execution attempt in November 2022, when prison officials were unable to set intravenous lines to administer a lethal injection.

The US Supreme Court rejected his last-minute appeals for a stay of execution.

Smith's last words Thursday were, "Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward," according to the local CBS affiliate. "I am leaving with love, peace and light."

The last US execution using gas was in 1999 when a convicted murderer was put to death using hydrogen cyanide gas.

There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.

Speaking to reporters after the execution, Elizabeth Sennett's son Mike said it had been a "bittersweet" day for his family, as "nothing that happened here today is going to bring Mom back."

According to a recent Gallup Poll, 53 percent of Americans support the death penalty for someone convicted of murder, the lowest level since 1972.

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states, while the governors of six others -- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- have put a hold on its use.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Staff, January 27, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Facebook | Telegram | Contact Us

SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY NEWS

Buy Me a Coffee!

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty a second time for 2 inmates

County Attorney Brad Miller said Aug. 6 that the nature of the attack and both men's past criminal records meet the strict legal bar required for execution under Arizona law. FLORENCE, Ariz. - Pinal County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two inmates accused of violently killing a fellow prisoner behind bars, officials announced Thursday. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton in connection with the fatal attack on Kenneth Thompson.

Iran’s War on Women: Executions, Floggings, and the Politics of Fear

The Iranian regime is increasingly using death sentences, corporal punishment, and judicial persecution against women—not only to silence dissent but also to intimidate a society demanding change. The Iranian regime has long viewed women as central to the country’s struggle for freedom—and therefore as central targets of repression. The nationwide uprising of 2022 fundamentally altered the political landscape, demonstrating that Iranian women were no longer merely participants in protest movements but among their principal organizers and symbols. Since then, the authorities have steadily intensified their campaign against women, expanding the use of executions, imprisonment, corporal punishment, and judicial intimidation.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog