Overview
- Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate in Alabama, is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial and untested method. This would be the first execution of its kind in the U.S.
- Smith was convicted in the 1988 killing of a pastor's wife as part of a murder-for-hire scheme. He survived a botched lethal injection in November 2022.
- Experts warn that nitrogen hypoxia may cause the condemned person to suffer unnecessarily while also threatening the health of others in the room.
- Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are the only states that currently permit the use of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method.
- The Vatican-affiliated Sant’Egidio Community has made a last-minute appeal to halt the execution, calling the method 'barbarous' and 'uncivilized'.