Nebraska | Opponents of death penalty decry proposal to use nitrogen gas for executions

They claim it’s ‘untested, dangerous and inhumane,’ while a proponent calls it ‘painless’ and not subject to shortages

LINCOLN — A proposal to use nitrogen gas to carry out executions in Nebraska brought out a parade of opponents to capital punishment on Wednesday.

Opponents, ranging from the ACLU of Nebraska to the Nebraska Nurses Association, called using suffocation via nitrogen gas “untested, dangerous and explicitly inhumane” during a public hearing before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

They pointed out that even the American Veterinary Medicine Association has ruled out nitrogen hypoxia in euthanizing pets because “animals may experience distressing side effects before loss of consciousness.”

Almost every opponent said that adopting a different method of execution — one billed as “painless” — wouldn’t change their opposition to capital punishment.

“Nebraska’s history with the death penalty has been a saga long on politics, public debate, concurrent litigation, and short on results,” said Spike Eickholt, who lobbies for two anti-death penalty groups.

“There is no reason to perpetuate this saga by altering the method of execution,” he added.

Lethal injection drugs held back

State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City introduced the nitrogen hypoxia measure, Legislative Bill 970.

Lippincott said that capital punishment is the law in Nebraska but that because of the refusal of pharmaceutical companies to provide the drugs used in lethal injections, another method must be found.

Obtaining nitrogen gas would not be a problem, Lippincott said.

In January, Alabama used nitrogen gas for the first time in the nation to execute a convicted murderer.

Oklahoma, Mississippi and Missouri also allow nitrogen hypoxia, Lippincott said, and the states of Ohio and Louisiana are considering bills to allow it.

He compared it to “putting to sleep” a sickly pet via euthanasia.

‘As painless and humane as possible’

“My primary desire is to make it as painless and humane as possible,” Lippincott said.

He read a letter of support for the procedure from the Alabama attorney general, who said it would eliminate the “guerrilla warfare” facing the various other forms of executions.

But two senators on the Judiciary Committee, Terrell McKinney of Omaha and Carol Blood of Bellevue, disputed that nitrogen hypoxia was painless.

Blood said eyewitnesses to the Alabama execution reported that the condemned inmate “gasped for air” and that his body shook and his fist clenched in the 22 minutes before he was declared dead.

McKinney, who has introduced bills to repeal the death penalty, questioned why nitrogen hypoxia should be used in executions if it had been ruled out for euthanizing pets.

Lippincott responded that it’s probably harder to fit a mask on the face of a dog or cat to administer the gas.

Study suggested first

McKinney said very little research had been done on this form of execution and asked Lippincott why he didn’t consider seeking a study of nitrogen hypoxia first.

That, the Central City senator said, would be something for the Judiciary Committee to decide.

No one testified in person in favor of LB 970. Nebraska last carried out an execution in 2018, when double-murderer Carey Dean Moore was put to death via lethal injection — the state’s first execution in 21 years.

Since then, state officials have said Nebraska lacks the drugs needed to impose capital punishment. Eleven men currently sit on death row in the state.

State lawmakers repealed the death penalty in 2015, but Nebraska voters restored capital punishment in 2016 by approving a referendum backed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts and his family.

Among those testifying against LB 970 on Wednesday were the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Nebraskans for Peace, the League of Women Voters of Nebraska and Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Sixty-six letters of opposition to the bill were submitted, compared to two letters in favor.

The Judiciary Committee took no action on LB 970 after the public hearing. Because the bill has no priority designation from a senator or a committee, it’s doubtful it will come up for debate this year.

Source: nebraskaexaminer.com, Paul Hammel, February 28, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Facebook | Telegram | Contact Us

SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY NEWS

Buy Me a Coffee!

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

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.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

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 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.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog