Barring a last-minute court order, prison officials in Alabama today will escort a convicted murderer to an execution chamber, where they will force him to inhale toxic levels of nitrogen.
This will be the first time a human has been anywhere in the world Implemented by nitrogen hypoxia.
A prosecutor has described it as “possibly the most humane method of execution ever undertaken” – but the prisoner’s legal team says he is a test subject for a deadly experiment.
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Alabama has one of the highest per capita enforcement rates in the United States United Statewith 165 people currently on death row.
But like other states with the death penalty, it struggles to obtain the drugs used in lethal injections. In 2010, pharmaceutical companies around the world began restricting sales to prison agencies.
Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi have allowed nitrogen gas as an alternative in 2022, and it will be used for the first time in Kenneth Eugene Smith.
He was convicted in 1988 of murdering the priest's wife, and had already survived a botched execution, when prison authorities were unable to find a suitable vein for lethal injection.
Kenneth Eugene Smith. Pic: Alabama Department of Corrections via AP
How will nitrogen implementation work?
A heavily revised protocol issued by the courts specifies how nitrogen will be used.
Smith will be secured on a stretcher in the death chamber. He will be forced to breathe a high concentration of nitrogen gas from a pressurized canister through a tight mask strapped to his face.
Jail staff will leave the room during the procedure due to safety concerns, although Smith's spiritual advisor will be allowed to stay, as long as he signs a liability release.
Under the protocol, the gas will be given for 15 minutes or for five minutes after the ECG screen shows his heart has stopped, whichever is longer.
But there are significant gaps in the information released, including details about how to calibrate oxygen monitoring equipment, how to turn on a nitrogen hypoxia system, and how to turn off the system.
Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air we breathe. But increasing concentration reduces the amount of oxygen available and this is ultimately fatal – people have died in workplace accidents due to nitrogen asphyxiation.
Alabama authorities say inhaling high levels of nitrogen can cause a person to lose consciousness in seconds and die within minutes.
But even a small amount of air seeping into the mask can slow his death. Smith's lawyers argued in court that he could have choked on his own vomit or been left in a comatose state.
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Nearly 100 people gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the execution earlier this week. Photo: AP
The United Nations calls for a moratorium on executions
The United Nations called on the state of Alabama to halt the implementation of the death sentence, warning that there was no scientific evidence to prove that execution by nitrogen inhalation would not cause “serious suffering.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights added that this “may amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.”
There were experiments on animals.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, rats show signs of panic and distress when forced to inhale the gas, including open-mouthed breathing and seizure-like behavior.
Veterinary scientists in the United States and Europe advise against using nitrogen to euthanize large mammals for welfare reasons unless they are anesthetized first.
Smith's appeals against the death penalty have so far failed.
There were many methods of execution in the past, including firing squads, electric chairs, and lethal injections.
But the executioner must pull the trigger, press the switch, or activate the plunger. They perform the final act that kills.
With nitrogen hypoxia, Smith would kill himself with every involuntary breath.
