In the United States, for the first time, a criminal was executed using pure nitrogen
In the USA, for the first time, a convict was executed using a new method – nitrogen hypoxia. Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed at a prison in Atmore, Alabama, on January 25. This information provided edition of AR.
Two days before that, the US Supreme Court rejected the convict’s request for a stay of execution. It was the first time in United States history that pure nitrogen was used to carry out a death sentence.
Alabama is one of three states in the US that allows this method of execution. During the procedure, the convict is fed pure nitrogen through a mask, which displaces oxygen from the air, causing death by gradual suffocation. The last case of execution by gas in the US took place in 1999, but then hydrocyanide (hydrogen cyanide) was used.
Smith was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of 37-year-old Vicki Deblieux. Along with three teenagers, he brutally beat a woman, threw her off a cliff, and then returned to mutilate her body.
The nitrogen hypoxia method in Alabama was approved in 2018 due to a shortage of drugs for lethal injections, which are still the main method of execution in the United States.
However, this method causes serious controversy. Critics say it can cause long-term suffering. Advocates for the convicts point out that previous cases of nitrogen use in Alabama were accompanied by signs of suffocation, contradicting promises of quick death. Despite this, state officials insist the method is legal, while human rights activists are calling for further analysis.
