Supreme Court doesn’t stop nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas

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Supreme Court doesn't stop nation's first…

U.S. Supreme Court Supreme Court doesn't stop nation's first execution using nitrogen gas

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 25, 2024, 10:26 am CST

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The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in one of two pending appeals. (Image from Shutterstock)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block the execution of a death row inmate who claims that he would be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if Alabama tries to execute him again—this time using nitrogen hypoxia.

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in one of two pending appeals. The Eighth Amendment argument before the high court was based on Alabama’s second attempt to kill the convicted murderer after executioners were unable to insert an intravenous line in November 2022, the New York Times reports here and here.

Smith’s lawyers say the experience caused trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A second appeal claims that Alabama isn’t ready to try the untested nitrogen hypoxia execution method, and that the mask that it is using to deliver the nitrogen could let in oxygen, prolonging the death process, according to the New York Times.

Smith’s lawyers planned to take that issue to the Supreme Court after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta denied his injunction request Wednesday.

Other publications covering the case, besides the New York Times, include Reuters, the Washington Post and Law Dork.

Smith’s execution was scheduled for Thursday evening. He was convicted for his role in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a pastor’s wife.

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Related topics: 11th Circuit Court | U.S. Supreme Court | States | Constitutional Law | Criminal Justice | Death Penalty | Alabama | Sentencing/Post Conviction | Public Interest | Eighth Amendment You might also like:

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