Opponents of Alabama's nitrogen executions want nitrogen companies to withhold supply

Alabama in late January became the first state to use nitrogen gas in an execution, finding a new way to carry out a death sentence after drug companies refused to let their products be used in lethal injections.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death Jan. 25 for the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett. State prison officials put a mask over his face, replacing the air he breathed with nitrogen gas and depriving him of oxygen.

Alabama has said it plans to continue using this new method. Other states are considering following its lead given that nitrogen gas, the chief material in a nitrogen execution, is readily available to purchase. But at least one company has said it won’t supply nitrogen for execution, and anti-death penalty groups hope others will do the same.

Despite the availability of nitrogen gas, legal challenges may end up being a big hurdle for prison officials trying to procure it, at least for the time being.

How did we get here?

The refusal of drug companies to allow their products to be used in lethal injections, and ongoing litigation over that execution method, have made it hard for some states to carry out death sentences. That led them to explore alternate means of carrying out executions.

Three states — Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama — have authorized nitrogen gas as an execution method. In Oklahoma, nitrogen was authorized as a backup method in case lethal injection is unavailable because of court rulings or a shortage of drugs. Alabama law gives prisoners the option to choose nitrogen as their preferred method.

Where did Alabama get the nitrogen?

Just as the state has refused to name suppliers for lethal injection drugs, the Alabama Department of Corrections won't say where it obtained the nitrogen gas used to kill Smith. The state redacted information in federal court records that could identify the supplier. Court documents filed by the state showed the gas used was certified as 99.999% pure nitrogen.

Where can states obtain nitrogen?

Nitrogen gas can be purchased easily without a license from manufacturers, industrial suppliers or even online retailers. Nitrogen gas is used for a variety of purposes in manufacturing, welding, inflating tires and equipment calibration and maintenance. The plentiful supply is likely one reason that some states have expressed interest in the new method.

The air surrounding us is 78% nitrogen and generators can be purchased that produce high-purity nitrogen by isolating it from other gasses in the air. That could allow prison officials to get around suppliers' reluctance to provide nitrogen gas for executions.

Can companies refuse to supply the gas?

At least one major manufacturer, AirGas, which was acquired by French-owned Air Liquide, has said it will not supply gas for executions. The stance is similar to those taken by drug companies that refuse to supply lethal injection drugs.

"Since 2019, Airgas has publicly articulated its position that supplying nitrogen for the purpose of human execution is not consistent with our company values and that position has not changed. Airgas has not and will not supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution," a company spokeswoman wrote in an email.

Bianca Tylek, the founder of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy group, said she hopes other manufacturers follow the lead of Airgas and drug manufacturers.

She acknowledged it's harder to cut off the supply of readily available high-purity nitrogen gas, but urged companies to prohibit their products from being used in executions.

Even when supplies of lethal injection drugs were cut by manufacturers, states found workarounds such as turning to compounding pharmacies.

Will there be obstacles to nitrogen gas executions?

Activists and lawyers for people on death row will continue to fight the use of nitrogen gas for executions and legal challenges could slow things down, at least for a while.

Already, critics are seizing on witness descriptions of Smith convulsing on the gurney for several minutes to demonstrate that nitrogen gas does not provide a humane and quick death, as the state promised.

What are alabama plans?

The day after Smith's death, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall declared the execution a success and said the state will pursue more nitrogen executions in the future. He offered help to other states wishing to follow Alabama’s path.

But nitrogen hypoxia will not replace lethal injection in Alabama. Going forward, the state's execution method will be based on "the choice of the inmate," Marshall said.

Alabama gave inmates a brief window to select nitrogen as their preferred execution method. More than 40 people on the state's death row have selected nitrogen as their preferred method. However, there will almost certainly be litigation, citing how Smith's execution unfolded, the next time the state tries to set an execution date using nitrogen gas.

An Alabama death row inmate filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of nitrogen gas executions.

The lawsuit, which cited witness accounts of Smith shaking and writhing on the gurney, argued that Smith's execution was "a human experiment that officials botched miserably" and "cannot be allowed to be repeated."

A federal judge has set a March hearing on a death row inmate's request to see the unredacted nitrogen execution protocol, the gas mask and other information that was disclosed to Smith's attorneys.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, February 16, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Facebook | Telegram | Contact Us

SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY NEWS

Buy Me a Coffee!

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

'No Warning': The Death Penalty In Japan

Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite criticism over how it is carried out. Tokyo: Capital punishment in Japan is under scrutiny again after the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation this week following his acquittal last year in a retrial. Stakes for wrongful convictions are high in Japan, where the death penalty has broad public support despite international criticism over how it is carried out.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog