.ON JANUARY 25TH Kenneth Eugene Smith became the very first individual anywhere to be put to death through nitrogen hypoxia. He was sentenced in 1989 of murdering Elizabeth Sennett, the wife of a minister from Alabama, on her partner’s orders. The condition had initial attempted to execute him, through fatal injection, in November 2022, but mishandled the operation.
After that, Mr Johnson selected to become put to death by unique ways. His punishment has caused resentment: Alabama declares nitrogen hypoxia is actually an easy, pain-free death but lots of medical pros disagree. Some have actually parallelled it to abuse.
Why did Alabama authorise this unproved procedure?