{"id":9968,"date":"2024-01-26T09:04:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T17:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9968"},"modified":"2024-01-26T10:02:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T18:02:19","slug":"first-nitrogen-hypoxia-execution-completed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9968","title":{"rendered":"First Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution Completed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first execution by nitrogen hypoxia was completed yesterday, as Alabama finally executed paid hit-man Kenneth Smith for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett 35 years ago. The hit men stabbed Mrs. Sennett and beat her with a fireplace tool in her home in Colbert County, Alabama. See this story<\/a> at al.com, published in 2022 and updated yesterday. They had been hired by her husband, who self-executed before he could be charged.<\/p>\n

As I have noted several times on this blog, hypoxia is painless, as I know from personal experience in Air Force flight training. Unconsciousness would normally be quick, but one thing we cannot control is the inmate’s resistance by holding his breath. That is apparently what happened yesterday. The AP reporter who witnessed the execution reports<\/a> that Smith shook the gurney for about two minutes. Some of this was likely voluntary movement while conscious, and some may have been involuntary movement while unconscious. This was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing.*<\/p>\n

The WSJ has this story<\/a>, with video clips from Alabama DOC Commissioner John Hamm and Jeff Hood, identified as Smith’s “spiritual advisor.”<\/p>\n

Should we be upset by any of this? I don’t think so. One thing for certain — any pain that Smith felt was a very small fraction of what he inflicted on Elizabeth Sennett. Death is not a pretty thing to watch, but nitrogen hypoxia provides a path that is less painful than most of us will suffer when we die from natural causes. If a murderer chooses to make it longer than it needs to be, that is his choice. I won’t lose any sleep over it.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back at the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented<\/a> from denial of a stay with an outright falsehood. “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before.” As anyone who has read the record in this case knows, it was Smith, not the State, who demanded that nitrogen hypoxia be used rather than lethal injection. Only after he filed suit did the State agree to what he demanded, and an injunction to that effect was entered by the U.S. District Court. See this opinion<\/a>, page 4, last paragraph.<\/p>\n

After the failed execution attempt, Smith\u2019s lethal injection litigation continued, this time with another amended complaint that also included the Alabama Attorney General as a defendant. During that litigation, Smith, through counsel, continued to represent in court proceedings that nitrogen hypoxia was his preferred method of execution. On August 25, 2023, the defendants moved to dismiss the case, stating that Smith\u2019s challenge to lethal injection was now moot because the defendants had agreed never to attempt to execute Smith by lethal injection again and that the Attorney General had moved to reset Smith\u2019s execution, this time by nitrogen hypoxia. On September 20, 2023, Smith\u2019s lethal injection case was dismissed for lack of a live case or controversy and the defendants were enjoined from conducting any future execution of Smith by lethal injection. Smith v. Hamm<\/em>, No. 2:22-cv-497-RAH, Final Judgment & Order<\/em> (M.D. Ala. Sept. 20, 2023).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The WSJ story, disappointingly, quotes Justice Sotomayor’s prevarication and never mentions Smith’s suit and the resulting injunction.<\/p>\n

No opinions concurring in the denial of stay were entered yesterday, but there is precedent for putting in an opinion later. It would help for one of the concurring justices to correct the record.<\/p>\n

* This paragraph was edited after finding the video report of the reporter who actually witnessed the execution, which was somewhat different from the story noted initially, written by a different reporter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first execution by nitrogen hypoxia was completed yesterday, as Alabama finally executed paid hit-man Kenneth Smith for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett 35 years ago. The hit men stabbed Mrs. Sennett and beat her with a fireplace tool in her home in Colbert County, Alabama. See this story at al.com, published in 2022 and updated yesterday. They had been hired by her husband, who self-executed before he could be charged. As I have noted several times on this blog, hypoxia is painless, as I know from personal experience in Air Force flight training. Unconsciousness would normally be quick, but one thing we cannot control is the inmate’s resistance by holding his breath. That is apparently what happened yesterday. The AP reporter who witnessed the execution reports that Smith shook the gurney for about two minutes. Some of this was likely voluntary movement while conscious, and some may have been involuntary movement while unconscious. This was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing.* The WSJ has this story, with video clips from Alabama DOC Commissioner John Hamm and Jeff Hood, identified as Smith’s “spiritual advisor.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-penalty","category-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution Completed - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=9968\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution Completed - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first execution by nitrogen hypoxia was completed yesterday, as Alabama finally executed paid hit-man Kenneth Smith for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett 35 years ago. 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