On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court declined to halt the execution of Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith, thereby paving the way for a wholly new method of execution using nitrogen gas.
In the nation's first execution attempt with the method, the state of Alabama will strap Smith to a gurney during a 30-hour window starting Thursday. He will be fitted with a mask and administered a flow of nitrogen gas, effectively depriving him of oxygen until he dies.
Though the Alabama attorney general's office told federal appeals court judges last week that nitrogen hypoxia is the most painless and humane method of execution known to man, many experts raise concerns that it could lead to excessive pain or even torture.
The method has been approved only by Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi but only Alabama has outlined a protocol for it which they plan to execute by delivering the nitrogen to Smith through a mask.
Smith was sentenced to death for his role in the 1988 murder for hire of 45-year-old Mrs Sennett. Her husband, minister Charles Sennett, hired someone who hired two others, including Smith, to kill his wife and make it look like a burglary for $1,000 each, according to court records.
Smith was earlier planned to be executed using lethal injection. However, the state's medical team repeatedly failed to insert an intravenous line into his arms and hands and, eventually, a vein near his heart. The jabbing stopped and the execution was called off.
Experimental procedure
Though Smith's legal team argued the nitrogen gas method is "recently released and untested" leaving him at risk of choking on his own vomit, Alabama said in a court filing that they expect him to lose consciousness within seconds and die in a matter of minutes.
But doctors and critics say what exactly Smith will feel after the warden switches on the gas is unknown. "What effect the condemned person will feel from the nitrogen gas itself, no one knows," Dr. Jeffrey Keller, president of the American College of Correctional Physicians, told the Associated Press. "This has never been done before. It is an experimental procedure."
Keller, who was not involved in developing the Alabama protocol, said the plan is to eliminate all of the oxygen from the air that Smith is breathing by replacing it with nitrogen. "Since the condemned person will not be breathing any oxygen, he will die," Keller added.
The state also claimed that it was a little different than putting a plastic bag over one's head. It predicted in federal court filings that the nitrogen gas will cause unconsciousness within seconds, and cause death within minutes. For this purpose, the state will use a full-facepiece supplied air respirator over Smith's face. The nitrogen would be administered for at least 15 minutes or five minutes following a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer, according to the state protocol.