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ATMORE, Ala. (TCD) — A 58-year-old death row inmate was executed Thursday night with nitrogen gas, which marks the first time this technique was used in place of other execution methods.
Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution was scheduled to occur between 12 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, and 6 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, and the Alabama Department of Corrections set the tentative start time for 6 p.m. Smith has been on death row since 1989 after he was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Elizabeth Sennett.
Sennett was found dead March 18, 1988. AL.com reports she had reportedly been stabbed and beaten in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Sennett’s husband, Charles. He paid Smith and another accomplice to kill Sennett. Charles Sennett reportedly killed himself one week later when investigators reportedly pointed to him as a suspect.
According to AL.com, five news reporters were brought in to witness the execution, as well as Smith’s spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood. Smith’s wife, son, attorney, and friend were also present.
The viewing room curtain opened at 7:53 p.m. Smith was inside the room and reportedly smiled at the reporters and other witnesses. He told his wife he loved her and gave her a thumbs-up.
Smith gave a statement prior to the gas being administered and said, “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards.”
He reportedly thanked his family and loved ones, adding, “I’m leaving with love, peace, and light.”
Smith was initially scheduled to be executed in November 2022 via lethal injection, but officials reportedly could not find his vein in time.
While being given the gas, Smith reportedly convulsed for about two minutes and pulled at the restraints that tied him to the gurney. He was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.
The nitrogen method involves the gas flowing through a mask, which ultimately deprives the body of oxygen. His attorneys appealed the gas execution all the way up to the Supreme Court, but a majority of the justices blocked the appeal.
AL.com reports Smith and Hood, the spiritual adviser, said in a statement prior to the execution, “The eyes of the world are on this impending moral apocalypse. Our prayer is that people will not turn their heads. We simply cannot normalize the suffocation of each other.”
Hood spoke at a press conference with Death Penalty Action and said, “We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life, heaving back and forth.”
He added, “Kenny Smith was by no means a perfect person. We have got to make sure that this never, ever, happens again.”
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