A federal judge who is weighing whether to allow the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia to go forward next month has urged Alabama to change procedures so the inmate can pray and say final words before the gas mask is placed on his face.

A federal judge who is weighing whether to allow the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia to go forward next month, urged Alabama on Thursday to change procedures so the inmate can pray and say his final words before the gas mask is placed on his face.

U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker made the suggestion in a court order setting a Dec. 29 deadline to submit information before he rules on the inmate’s request to block the execution. The judge made similar comments the day prior at the conclusion of a court hearing.

Alabama is scheduled to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith on Jan. 25 in what would be the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia is authorized as an execution method in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma but has never been used to put an inmate to death.

The proposed execution method would use a gas mask, placed over Smith’s nose and mouth, to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing Smith to die from lack of oxygen.

      • frazw@lemmy.worldEnglish
        164·
        6 个月前

        Murderer put to death. Don’t do eye for an eye. Hmm OK America.

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
          221·
          6 个月前

          I fundamentally oppose the death penalty, but if a state is going to insist on doing it I want them to do it as humanely as possible. It should never be done as “revenge.”

    • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
      10·
      6 个月前

      Actually, yes. this is Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife. Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was found dead on March 18, 1988, in her home in Alabama’s Colbert County. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of neck.

      In all actuality, there is no information saying that he did or did not allow this, but I did learn a lot about this case. Turns out two guys were hired to kill this pastors wife because the pastor had an affair (doesn’t make sense but it is what happened). These two guys, one of them stole things to stage a burglary. He was put to death in 2010 and his last words were to her sons, “I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry.”

      The other, currently on death row, agreed to beat her, but apparently did not intend to kill her.

      After the pastor became a suspect, he drove to the gathering, told his sons what part he had played (hiring a crew to kill his wife and himself having an affair), then got into his truck and shot himself.

      It’s a waste of life. Terrible decisions from three people that ultimately led to a severely somber outcome for everyone involved.

    • OptimusPrimeDownfall@discuss.tchncs.de
      51·
      6 个月前

      Probably not. But remember that ~4% of all death row inmates are innocent, so it may be that he didn’t kill anyone.

      Also, shouldn’t the state be better than a murderer? Shouldn’t the mere fact that we believe we, as a society, are civilized mandate allowing a death row inmate respect before they die?

      I’m not religious, so I don’t think praying and final words will do anything. But it won’t harm anyone, and if it makes him more comfortable as he goes out, especially in light of the likelihood he didn’t that to his victim, I’m not against it.

    • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
      21·
      6 个月前

      Should the state have the same low moral bar as criminals? (It’s a rhetorical question that was answered when the state decided to murder someone that’s not a threat anymore in cold blood)